


Stranger In a Strange Land

by MischievousMistress



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Arguing, Fluff, M/M, Smut, little shits
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-20
Updated: 2014-09-28
Packaged: 2018-01-05 05:35:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 47,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1090216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MischievousMistress/pseuds/MischievousMistress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a mission gone wrong, Tony Stark is accidentally sent through a portal to Asgard, where he is confronted with the worst possible scenario: he gets trapped inside Loki's cell and is unable to get back to earth. Tony and Loki are forced to endure each others company until the Avengers come up with a solution to their problem. A cocky mortal and a raging Demi-God trapped together, what could possibly go wrong?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. When Things go Wrong

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is based off of Lei-sam's comics, 'Stranger in a Strange Land.' The comics are absolutely amazing - so well drawn with such an original and attention grabbing story-line, and I am so honoured to be able to write a fic about it.  
> As well as the plot, Lei-sam has helped with a bunch of parts in the story and the editing, so credit for this fic goes to her as well!
> 
> Her comics can be found on her tumblr: http://lei-sam.tumblr.com  
> If you haven't seen them before, I highly recommend doing so! ^-^
> 
> \--- Warning: there is language. It isn't used much, but it is there.

Low below the golden and magnificent palaces and galleries of Asgard, lay the dark and dismal dungeons, old and forbidding like Asgard itself, leaving all of its inhabitants stuck in an endless gloomy mood.  
Through the hallways of the rows of cells containing the prisoners, a group of guards made their hourly rounds, checking up on all of the prisoners. As one guard came across Loki's cell, he stopped to stare in at the disgraced prince of Asgard. He turned to another guard and grinned, “is it not enthusing? We are more suited for the throne of Asgard than the son of Odin, himself.”  
The other guard tore his attention from other prisoners to walk over and stand beside the amused guard, equally enjoying the view of Loki locked up in a cell. "For an insane criminal, he sure does do a good job boosting the self-confidence."  
A low growl escaped Loki's lips as he glared at the guards who dared to belittle him. He could feel his blood boiling in his veins as rage began furiously building up inside of him. He had been enduring endless taunting and insults from the guards since he had been tossed unceremoniously into his cell, and they certainly did not make that easy to do. He had finally had enough. “When I get out of here, you two pathetic beings will be the first I massacre on my relapse assassination spree.” Loki laughed, “or maybe you’re not even worth it. Look at you two. So worthless, that Asgard made you guards of all things. You’d have to be brain-dead to screw up a job like that.”  
The guards took a step back, fearing the blood-craved, insane look in Loki’s eyes, and the merciless tone of his voice. Even from behind the barricaded window he was scary…it was just a window, after all. It wasn’t _impossible_ to break out of. It was only very, very unlikely to get out and be alive, but Loki hadn’t been in the cell for very long at all - he was still fresh with rage, violence and he craved destruction. The guards knew better than to test their luck with someone such as Loki. They retreated, continuing with their rounds.  
Loki began pacing around his cell, wishing he had something to destroy. He felt _angry_. Worse than he had before - and not just because he was still wearing off the Tesseract and whatever Thanos managed to do to his mind, but because Thanos managed to control him in such a way that he had done. Loki had been used, controlled, abused and manipulated... On top of which, he had been sentenced to four thousand years of solitary confinement, and for what? A few pesky mortals falling to their deaths? It could hardly count as anything compared to all the lives Odin had taken in all of the wars he had partaken in.  
Suddenly, something flew through the wall of Loki’s cell, and hit the floor. Loki cocked his head to the side, curiously observing the body on his floor. When the body groaned and looked upwards, Loki recognized him to be one of those 'Avengers' from Thor’s special team from Midgard. In other words: a threat - especially considering Loki was locked up and more at a disadvantage. Loki wasted no time to lunge towards the mortal, ready to kill him.  
“No! No, no, no!” Tony yelled, immediately trying to avoid Loki; protecting his face with his arms as he crawled backwards into the corner. “ _Fuck_ , Loki, wait! I come in peace; don’t kill me - _wait_!”  
Loki froze with his hands just mere centimeters away from the mortal’s throat. Tony was obviously trying not to lose his cool, but was failing miserably. Loki would have questioned why he seemed so distressed, or why he was in his cell, of all the people and places, but no longer found it in himself to care. He finally had what he wanted. He could let out all of his frustrations while killing an enemy _and_ a friend of Thor’s. There was nothing better he could have possibly asked for.  
He again reached for Tony's throat, ready to pull his head off. Strangely, however, Loki seemed to be doing no harm. He couldn’t even affect Tony’s breathing. Loki stared at Tony, and punched him in the face. Tony's head whipped to the side with the force of Loki's punch, throwing him to the floor with the momentum. He put his hand on his face, expecting to have a dislocated jaw, but found that that he wasn't injured, nor had he felt any pain. With a surprised and confused expression, he looked up at Loki, "I... didn't feel that. That didn't hurt."  
Loki stared at the mortal, bewildered. Loki was a _God_ \- Tony was nothing but a mere _defenseless_ mortal who ought to be bleeding on the floor hanging on to his life by a thread, not sitting there completely unharmed. “Why?!” Loki growled, punching Tony again.  
“Would you stop that?!” Tony argued, trying to fight the urge to engage in a fight with Loki now that he couldn’t get hurt by him. “I’m not here to fight you!”  
“ _SHUT UP!_ ” Loki yelled, punching Tony again. After Loki had hit Tony countless times without doing any harm, he gave up and sat on the ground in front of Tony with a long sigh. “Why are you here?”  
“I don’t know, I... Something happened that shouldn’t have.”  
“ _What happened?!_ What were you doing before you came here?!”  
“Well… we were fighting Doom,” Tony began, only to be interrupted by the puzzled expression on Loki's face. "Dr. Victor Von Doom," Tony hurried to explain. "He's a crazy and evil dictator back on Earth; he favors the use of technology and magic. Anyways, after the whole New York incident, he became obsessed with you and your 'Godly' powers and magic . I started monitoring his every movement; he spent a good chunk of his time in Germany and, strangely, on my rooftop. I didn't know what his intentions were, I just assumed he had lost it, so I held my ground, waiting to see if he did anything more. Fury suspected that he was after the Tesseract or some of that alien tecnhology your arms left behind."  
Loki huffed in annoyance, “technically, those were not my troops…”  
" _Anyway_ ," Tony interrupted him “I think he was actually looking for something to do with you; with your energy, power, or magic…whatever that all is. It wasn’t until he successfully stole all of Earth’s power and caused the biggest blackout possible - and believe me, I’m pretty impressed that the guy managed to pull something like that off - that he caught anyone’s attention. So the Avengers got together and sought him out. When we confronted him he said something about finding the “original source” and that he had managed to find a way to create a portal from Earth to that source…which means -"  
"Me... he was referring to me and my magic,” Loki growled in annoyance, finishing Tony's sentence. “But I do not understand. Why _me_?”  
“Because you’re a god. He said something about wanting to impress you enough that you’d consider him worthy of godly powers and grant it to him, keeping him as an ally. He can't go after Thor because, one: lightning is a little harder to track down, and two: Thor's a good guy, he wouldn't go grant some evil bastard godly powers.”  
“But how did _you_ get here?”  
“That portal. Doom was still in the middle of turning it on when we came and interrupted him. Steve and I started a fight with Doom while Natasha, Clint and Bruce tried to turn off the portal. They finally got it, but as it was closing Doom tried to slip into it. Steve and I tried to stop him at the same time and, well... Steve managed to immobilize Doom, but Doom pushed him and he was about to fall into the portal himself. I saved him, but in turn, I fell in, instead.”  
“And you came to the origin of my powers... to me,” Loki finished.  
Tony nodded, “yeah, I believe I came to you because Doom used your magic to target his destination, your powers where like a beacon that guided me here.”  
Loki looked perplexedly at Tony.  
"So, is Thor around anywhere? I can’t undo what happened without him. Also, it was _really_ nice of him to miss that fight," Tony rolled his eyes. "He would've been really helpful. I'll need to build some sort of Earth-to-Asgard communicator... what kinda technology you guys got here?”  
Loki growled at the mention of his brother’s name, and squeezed his hands around Tony’s throat again. “I cannot seem to harm your body, Stark, but mark my words; I can harm you in other ways.”  
“I-I’m sorry? Would you rather help?”  
Loki frowned at Tony, slightly taken aback from Tony’s offer. He seemed so... genuine; as though he wouldn’t mind help from Loki. “No,” he spoke, as if the answer were obvious.  
“Great!” Tony got up from underneath Loki's grasp and jumped on the bed. Making himself comfortable, he leaned against the back wall with his hands behind his head and his ankles crossed. “So, how often does Thor visit you? Tell me he hasn’t come by already today.”  
Loki gave Tony a look that Tony didn’t quite understand. “I have not seen Thor since he brought me back here.”  
“What?” Tony asked, leaning forwards to sit upright.”You’re kidding, right?” Thor _never_ gave up on Loki... why wouldn’t he visit him now?  
Loki crossed his arms over his chest, annoyed with Tony’s existence. “ _GUARDS!_ ” he yelled as loud as he could, making sure he would be heard.  
“What are you doing?! Shh!” Tony desperately pleaded. He didn’t know how else to get Thor to come down if he never visited, but he was certain that the guards wouldn’t take well to a human being stuck in a cell - he was positive that would count as breaking in.  
It took the guards a few seconds, but they came running over to Loki’s cell. Loki didn’t need to say anything as the situation was perfectly clear, however the guards stood staring in at Tony, wondering what to do. They couldn’t risk opening up the cell to get him out in case it was a trick of some kind, but if it wasn’t, they couldn’t just leave the human in there with Loki.  
“Oh, go get Thor,” Loki spat out. “Make yourself at least some degree of useful.”  
“We can’t disturb Thor unless it is important.”  
“I’m important!” Tony protested, offended.  
Loki walked over to Tony and leaned down in front of him, “play along or when you get out of here I will kill you in ways you do not know exist for it is so horrendous,” Loki warned in a very low voice. He picked Tony up off the bed and stood in front of the window, again. “This is Thor’s companion; his teammate from Midgard that he loves dearly and speaks about often. I suggest you summon Thor now or I will kill this mortal.”  
The guards exchanged another look, positive that Loki was playing a trick - he probably just wanted to escape so bad that he was using an illusion of something he thought the guards wouldn't question. He wouldn’t or couldn’t hurt the being; it wasn't real.  
Loki took their hesitation to throw the mortal body into the window. Tony felt some sort of electric, magical feeling run all throughout his body. He could _feel_ it, yet it didn’t hurt him. There was no damage to his body, either. Presuming that there should be, he acted severely hurt and didn’t move a muscle.  
The guards panicked. Someone  _was_ in there with Loki, and he may or may not be alive. The guards both shoved each other and tripped over their feet in attempts to hurry and get Thor as soon as possible.  
“How did you know I could withstand that?” Tony asked, sitting up when the guards had left.  
“I didn’t,” Loki answered, leaning against a wall, awaiting Thor’s arrival.  
“You... You could have - ”  
“I do not care for you or your existence. I want you gone, mortal. I do not care how it happens, but it will.”  
Tony sat in an upright position with a sigh. Looking around, he realized that Loki had furniture... but none of the other cells in view seemed to have any. “Why doesn’t anyone else have a bed?”  
“That is of too much luxury.”  
Tony stared at Loki in disbelief, “so... they... what? They all sleep on the floor? Every night?”  
“Yes.”  
“But... why do you have -?”  
“Because my," Loki paused, contemplating on which word to use next. "My... mother, would not have me be without it.”  
“Who’s your mother?”  
Before Loki could answer - not that he was going to - Thor was seen approaching their cell.  
“Brother,” Thor greeted bitterly.  
“Thor,” Loki spat.  
Unresolved brother drama...that was just what Tony needed. He wasn’t sure if he should interfere with the reason they were having a reunion, or if he should awkwardly try to stay unseen so they could try to talk it out.  
“What is it like?” Loki asked, “roaming around free while your brother rots in the dungeon? I’d quite like to experience that joy for myself.”  
Alright, talking - probably not so good. Tony didn’t really need his new roommate or his only hope to be stuck in a bad mood. “Hey, Thor!” Tony tried to lighten the mood, jumping up to stand in front of the barricaded window. “Good to see ‘ya, again!”  
“Man of Iron, why are you here? How did you get in there? _What trickery is this?_ ”  
“Is it not possible for this not to be ‘trickery,’ Thor?” Loki questioned. "I am not to blame for _everything_."  
Thor turned to the guards and pointed at Tony, “how did this man get in there?”  
The guards looked at each other, trying to come up with an answer. “I-I don’t know,” one spoke up. “Loki was alone five minutes ago.”  
“Did you not say that he had hit the barrier and fallen?”  
The guards nodded.  
“Trickery,” Thor concluded, turning back to Loki.  
“Thor, Loki didn’t do this,” Tony jumped in. “It was Doom. I was on Earth -“  
“Long story short,” Loki interrupted with thin patience, “he fell through a portal that has been locked upon my magic.”  
Thor stared at the pair for a minute, trying to decide whether or not the story was of truth. “Open the door,” Thor finally commanded to the guards.  
“But, Sir -“  
"Now.”  
The guards nodded and stumbled to open the door for Thor.  
“If you try to escape, I will kill you,” Thor warned Loki as the doors opened.  
Loki shook his head at Thor’s ignorance, and headed for the back of the room as if to show that he had no intentions of escaping.  
Thor walked in, and grabbed Tony’s arm, pulling him out, “Man of Iron, whether or not this be a trick, I cannot risk you being here with Loki, nor can I risk you being among Asgard. My people will not take well to that. I do not know why you are here, but you must leave. I will open a portal from my world to yours with Mjolnir. I can return you home and we shall sort this nonsense out there. I also intend to bring this Doom back to Asgard with me to hold prisoner.”  
Before Tony could reply, Thor had created a portal with his hammer. Tony barely had time to even look through the portal at Earth before he was dragged inside. He went through the portal, but appeared back at Loki’s side, causing Loki to stumble backwards with surprise. He tried to grab onto something to keep his balance, but ended up touching the barrier, burning his hand. He cursed, waving his hand around.  
“ _Stark, what the hellebróga?!_ ” Loki yelled.  
Tony stared at Loki’s red hand. The window was enough to badly injure Loki... why didn’t it affect him at all? Tony quickly made a mental note to have some fun with how pain tolerant he had suddenly gotten.  
Loki growled at Tony, causing Tony to retreat in fear - not fear of getting physically hurt, but of what else Loki might be capable of.  
Suddenly, Thor appeared between the pair. He stared at Tony.  
“I don’t know,” Tony answered Thor’s unasked questioned.  
Thor shook his head and disappeared again.  
Tony and Loki exchanged a confused look, but split up, staying at opposite ends of the cell. Tony sat down on Loki’s bed and got comfortable; leaning against the wall with his arms behind his head and ankles crossed again.  
Loki glared at Tony with deep hatred, “get off my bed.”  
“I’d like to see you make me,” Tony grinned, challenging the god that was now physically harmless to him.  
Loki narrowed his eyes, “you would not -“  
Before Loki could finish his sentence, Thor appeared outside of the cell again.  
Tony immediately jumped up to his feet and ran over to the window, curious to know what happened. “What’d you do? Did you find anything out?”  
“Yes, I saw the Avengers,” Thor nodded, and shared the information he had retrieved:

 _“But we have Tony,” Clint argued, not believing or overly caring that there was another Tony out there. One was enough. He didn’t want to risk anything to have two Tony’s._  
 _“Not all of him,” Natasha protested. “If there’s a part of Tony that got separated from himself, no matter how small, we have to go save him. Tony isn’t Tony without all of himself.”_  
 _“No matter how much Tony we think we have, that small piece of Tony out there with Loki is still Tony,” Bruce agreed. “Hell, we don’t even know what Tony is really Tony; which one is the original."_  
 _Thor nodded, “Banner is right. I cannot allow Loki to have such a shadow forever, nor would my people take well to that. The Man of Iron would be stuck with Loki in a small cage for the rest of his life. I cannot put a friend through that - even if there is another one of him,” Thor paused. “I fear that if Loki does not convince the Man of Iron into becoming allies, then Loki would use Man of Iron's life to escape... however, it seems the Man of Iron has gained a great resistance beyond that of a mere human; he withstands that which even those of Asgard cannot. Loki had tossed him into the barricade that keeps all prisoners in their cells, and no harm was done to him, but we do not yet know how invincible he is, or if he can be defeated at all. I do not wish to allow my brother to test that out with his limitlessness, merciless wrath like that.”_  
 _The group exchanged a few looks regarding Tony's sudden invincibility, agreeing with Thor. If it was possible, Loki would surely find a way to kill Tony if he wanted to._  
 _“We need to get him out of there as soon as we can. He’d do the same for any of us,” Steve agreed. After everyone exchanged a look, Steve added “I hope.”_  
 _“How did this happen? How do we go fix it?” Thor asked. “Banner? Have you any ideas?”_  
 _Bruce clicked his pen as he leaned over the counter, staring at his papers on the counter. “Tony fell through while Doom’s portal was closing, and it wasn’t stable to begin with. As it was turning off, it was only half working, so, figuratively speaking, it tore Tony's soul in half, throwing him in some different state, or trapped in both dimensions.”_  
 _“Simplify, son,” Steve requested, trying to understand Tony’s condition better._  
 _“When Tony fell through the portal, it worked and didn’t work at the same time. Its job was to teleport whatever went through it to Asgard. It did that and didn’t do it. We saw him come right out the other end as if it hadn't worked, but he also got sent to Asgard. The machine malfunctioned. He’s still one person, but existing in two places at once.”_  
 _“If he came from battle, why has he no armour?” Thor questioned._  
 _“I don’t know. Tony_ is _Iron Man, but the suit isn't part of his soul, so, I guess it was left on Earth, unable to go through the portal. Look, I’m really not the right guy to be answering this stuff... all I know is that we have to get him put together.”_  
 _“How do we do it?” Thor questioned._  
 _“I... I don’t know. This is something I would need Tony for.”_  
 _“We can’t include him in this,” Natasha forbade. "That's why Clint made sure he was busy in his workshop. You know what he's like. He'd try to spend time with his other self, and he'd end up being irresponsible and stupid."_  
 _“I know,” Bruce confirmed, “that’s why I’ll need time. I’ll need to talk to Doom and see if I can get anything out of him. Natasha, I’ll need you to come with me. Thor, go back to Asgard and make sure they don’t kill each other. Steve, Clint... look after our Tony.”_

Tony sighed, trying to process everything. “So, I’m... existing... in two places, at the same time? And I don't even get to enjoy it?”  
Thor nodded, “so it seems. Banner will get you back as soon as he is able. In the mean time... it looks like your solitary confinement is not so solitary anymore, Loki.”  
Loki and Tony both looked at each other. They were going to be stuck together. It could be days - weeks even - until Bruce could fix the mess. There was no way Tony and Loki could put up with each other for so long without killing one another.


	2. Tony's Culture Shock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark: the man who once had everything, trapped in a cell with nothing. After learning of the rules set for Loki that he is forced to endure as well, he disapproves, and is determined to make things change.

Tony flopped himself down on the bed and sighed. Of all people to get stuck with, it had to be the bad guy who just so happened to be a god? Tony never really thought that the saying ‘dreams come true’ included nightmares... as logical as that sounded.  
“Get up,” Loki growled.  
“Why?” Tony questioned.  
“That’s my bed.”  
“Not tonight.”  
“Who’s cell is this?” Loki growled.  
“Yours, and I’m your guest. It’s basically an unspoken law that the guest gets the bed. Ergo, bed; mine.”  
Loki shook his head, “get up.”  
“Look, I need something to sleep on, too. We’ll share it: I get it tonight, and you can have it tomorrow... you know, that kind of thing.”  
“No,” Loki denied simply.  
“Why not? That’s fair.”  
“No,” he repeated.  
“I... Yes it is?”  
“Do not speak to me - do not speak at all.”  
Tony rolled his eyes and sighed.  
“Do not even breathe.”  
“Well, I’m sorry for being alive!”  
“You are not forgiven,” Loki muttered.  
“Really?” Tony stood up, “how can you hate me _that_ much? What did I do to you besides -“  
“What did you do?” Loki interrupted, standing up from his chair as well, “ _what did you do_? You have ruined my plans at -“  
“Don’t give me that,” Tony cut him off, “no, _no_. You tried to rule my entire planet. That’s not -“  
“It was necessary! You humans need subjugation!”  
“You _obviously_ don’t know _anything_ about humans.”  
“I know enough to say that your world needs your ‘heroes’ because of -“  
“People like you?”  
“People like _yourselves_. You are destroying each other. You need to be ruled; to be taught and guided.”  
“No, we’ll fix everything. We have everything under control. We’ll make it. You need to -“  
"What I need to do is -"  
“let me have the bed,” Tony finished.  
“Make me,” Loki childishly challenged, sincerely hoping for a bit of fun.  
Tony wasn’t sure exactly what was going through his mind - maybe it was the power of knowing he couldn't get hurt, but he didn’t know just how long he would be stuck with Loki, and he really didn’t want to spend the entire time of the floor. He needed to prove to Loki that he wasn’t someone who could be so easily walked all over and told what to do; Tony wasn’t just another peasant - and besides, it seemed like fun, and after the day he had, he could use some fun. He defensively put his hands up, ready to fight, as he slowly circled Loki.  
Loki stepped forwards and grabbed Tony by the collar of the shirt and pulled him up off of his feet, then threw him across the room, causing him to slide into the barricaded wall.  
“Now that wasn’t nice - especially since I’m your guest. How often do you even get guests? I can see why it’s not often.”  
Loki growled in response.  
Physical strength may not be Tony's strong point, but he felt so full of adrenalin. _No pain_. He jumped up to his feet and charged towards Loki, pinning him to the ground.  
Although he had a much, _much_ higher tolerance level for pain, Tony knew he probably couldn’t hurt Loki since Loki was a God, but he went ahead and punched Loki anyways, taking advantage of the situation.  
Loki growled. Of course Tony didn’t hurt him, but the fact that he had dared try to, infuriated him.  
The two of them rolled around the floor throwing punches at each other. Loki got a chance to let out his frustrations and anger while enjoying himself, and Tony got to have a _lot_ of fun. Nothing could boost his ego like going head-to-head with a God without getting hurt.  
Eventually, the pair grew tired and Tony wasn’t having as much fun since he had gotten used to the excitement.  
“Just give me the bed tonight, you’ll get it back tomorrow,” Tony requested firmly.  
“I do not make deals with mortals.”  
“I’m not exactly mortal if I exist in two worlds at the same time _and_ I’m invincible, hmm?”   
Loki huffed, but didn’t say anything more. He got up off of the floor and sat back down on his chair, crossing his arms across his chest.  
Tony got up as well and sat on the bed, feeling satisfied that he had won over the bed. He laid down and got himself comfortable enough to sleep. He had no idea what time it was, but he didn’t need a clock to know that he needed to rest. He had just gone through a very long day - he had woken up early to go to a meeting, he argued with Pepper, fought with Doom, had been in Asgard for a few hours, and had just fought with Loki, too. He felt exhausted. It didn’t take him very long to fall asleep at all.

Sometime in the night, Tony woke up again for seemingly no reason. In the corner of the room Loki had fallen asleep in his chair, with his arms still crossed and his head bowed down. Tony stared at him. He looked so... peaceful, and harmless. How could someone who looked so innocent be filled with so much violence, rage and hatred?  
“Stop staring at me,” Loki suddenly muttered.  
Tony immediately looked away, “how did you know I -?”  
“I felt your eyes on me.”  
“Right... Whatever; sorry.”  
Loki opened an eye to observe Tony. He was looking around, checking out the other prisoners. “Do not pay attention to them,” Loki warned in nothing more than a murmur.  
Tony looked at Loki, who had closed his eyes again. “How do you know what I’m doing?”  
Loki didn’t answer.  
Tony nodded, accepting that he wasn’t going to get an answer to that. “Why not?” he asked, referencing the last thing Loki said.  
“They may be in another cell, but they can still torture you if you give them reason.”  
“What reason could I give them from another cell? I mean, aside from being jealous of me?”  
“Attention,” Loki muttered, ignoring Tony’s cockiness.  
Tony nodded, not quite sure what they could do to him, or why attention was so bad... but he was in a different world where gods and magic existed. He wasn’t exactly going to underestimate anything.  
“I’m going back to sleep, do not look at me - it is annoying.”  
Tony pressed his lips together and nodded, closing his own eyes.

When Tony awoke sometime the next day, he noticed that Loki was still sitting in his chair, but he had a book.  
“What time is it?” Tony asked through a groggy voice.  
“... Sometime. Do you think that I would have anything to tell time with?”  
“I... I guess not. What about a bathroom?”   
Without looking up, Loki made a hand motion, and there was suddenly a toilet beside the bed.  
“You’re kidding me, right?”  
Loki simply shook his head, turning the page of his book.  
“ _THOR_!” Tony screamed desperately.  
Loki jumped, not expecting Tony to scream. “ _What is wrong with you_?!” Loki screeched, slamming his book closed.  
In the distance, a large door opening and closing could be heard, followed by heavy footsteps.  
“Great. Wonderful. _Thank you_ ,” Loki growled.  
Thor stepped up in front of the window of Tony and Loki’s cell, looking somewhat displeased to be disturbed, from whatever it was he was doing.  
“ _Please_ ,” Tony stood up and stood in front of Thor through the barricade, “please, tell me I don’t have to use _that_ ,” he pointed to the toilet that Loki had conjured up.  
Thor looked uncomfortable. “Man of Iron, I apologize. It is difficult to treat you as a friend and guest of Asgard when you cannot leave Loki’s side, and he cannot leave his cell.”  
“So, I’m stuck with this?”  
“Loki has a hidden restroom... however I cannot access it for you; only Loki may open it.”  
Tony sighed heavily. The chances of getting Loki to willingly allow him access to a private restroom were so slim, there was almost no point in asking him. “Can you at least get me some coffee?”  
“‘Tis the least I can do,” Thor nodded, “just this once.”  
Tony nodded as Thor disappeared into a portal he created.  
With a heavy sigh, Tony sat down on the ground and waited for Thor to return. “Where’d you get a book, anyways?” he asked Loki.  
“My mother,” Loki muttered, reading through his book again. “She brought you some, too.”  
“Me?”  
Loki tilted his head towards the small pile of books against the back wall of the cell.  
“I don’t... I don’t really read.”  
Thor suddenly appeared inside of the cell with a mug filled with coffee. He handed it down to Tony and told the guards to open the door so he could get back out. “Do not call upon me again, unless it is absolutely necessary. My priorities must lay with helping take care of Asgard. One day, under different circumstances, you may visit Asgard again and I will treat you as a proper guest.” With that, Thor left.  
“Am I a prisoner?” Tony asked Loki. He sure felt like one.  
“Yes.”  
“But I -“  
“You have come to Asgard, uninvited, and are stuck in my presence, in my cell, unable to get away. You are considered a prisoner. You are already lucky that Thor has gotten you out of your own sentence for breaking in.”  
“What do you...?”  
“Odin would have wanted to make you an official prisoner, with your own sentence for breaking in, as opposed to merely being trapped with me.”  
“How do you know -“  
“I just know.” Loki spoke in a tone that had a lot of knowledge and hurt behind it, Tony didn’t dare bother to argue or question further. Instead, he took a sip from his coffee. Much to his surprise, however, instead of tasting the hot coffee, he felt something tickle his lips. He looked at the contents of the mug and screamed as a little girl would, as he threw the mug towards the other side of the room.  
Loki innocently looked at Tony as though he were crazy.  
“ _What was that for_?! Of all things, you chose _snakes_?!”  
“I have not done anything,” Loki sounded completely innocent and believable, but he couldn’t help a small smirk from appearing on his face.  
“You wasted an _entire_ cup of coffee! That was the only one I was going to get!”  
“Well, why don’t you go cry onto your bed?! Your so-called ‘coffee’ is more than I will ever get from _him_ during my four thousand years here!” Loki spat.  
“Four... four _thousand_.... **_years_**?!”  
Loki sharply nodded once.  
“How... old are you?”  
“One thousand, forty some odd years... I believe.”  
“What’s your life span?”  
“About five thousand years.”  
“... So, you’re going to die here?”  
“Yes, I believe that is Odin’s plan.”  
“And you’ll be alone?”  
Loki nodded, turning his attention back down to his book.  
“That’s _torture_! How is that legal? Do you not have laws here in Asgard?!”  
Loki looked up to observe the outraged mortal, “of course we have laws, why do you think I am in here?”  
“What kind of law is _that_? I mean, even with your life span one hundred years seems torturous - _especially_ in solitary confinement! Being alone in a cell for that long is...” he trailed off, not quite having a word to describe how terrible it was.  
“Why are you so angry?”  
“Because it’s _wrong_!”  
“I destroyed your city and murdered your people, yet you wish for me to have a lesser sentence?”  
“I don’t approve of what you did. I don’t know what crazy ass things you were thinking, but I’m still not very gung-ho on the whole torture subject... no matter how much damage you did.”  
“Why is that? I would think one such as you would not mind certain beings getting tortured.”  
“How do you think I got this?” Tony tapped his arc-reactor. “I can tell you I didn’t just decide to turn myself into a walking flashlight. I don’t think anyone should have to go through anything like I did - not even the lightest parts of it.”  
“What is that?”  
“Y’know, I don’t trust you enough to tell you.” There wasn’t a doubt in Tony’s mind that Loki would find a way to kill him using his arc-reactor. If there was a way he could be severely harmed or killed, the shrapnel would surely do it.  
With a swift movement of his hand, the toilet disappeared from beside the bed, and a door appeared at the back of the room.  
Curiously, Tony walked towards the door. In the small room, was the bathroom Tony needed. Sighing with relief, he kicked the door shut and did his business, then returned to the cell. Awaiting him on the coffee table, was Tony’s cup, filled with coffee. “What’s this?” Tony asked, slightly confused at Loki’s sudden hospitality.  
“Tis but a peace offering.”  
“Are you trying to get me to trust you? I know that you’re considered to be the God of Mischief.”  
“If you do not want it...” Loki muttered, reaching to grab the coffee for himself.  
“No!” Tony jumped forwards, grabbing the cup of coffee before Loki could. “I didn’t say I didn’t want it.”  
Loki rolled his eyes, bringing his attention back to his book.  
“Did you poison it?” Tony questioned as he stared at the coffee.  
“No.”  
“Then, seriously, what is with the hospitality?”  
“Is it not impossible to be anything less than angry and violent?” The truth? Loki was trying to gain the mortal’s trust; he was curious about the thing in his chest, as well that Tony was the only person to think his punishment was unfair, without knowing the true reasoning behind Loki’s attack on Midgard. He appreciated that.   
“It’s just weird.”  
“Perhaps then, I shall make note to threaten your life on an hourly basis if that would make you more comfortable...”  
“That’s not what I meant. I don’t mind it.”  
“Then stop speaking of it.”  
Tony set the coffee back down on the table, not quite sure whether or not to really trust Loki. He had just turned the drink into snakes, after all. “Why don’t you ever let me talk?”  
“Your voice is painful to listen to.”  
“What else is there to do?!” Tony groaned and flopped down backwards on the bed.  
“Read a book.”  
Tony groaned again, throwing a pillow over his face, not responding.  
“Why are you not even giving them a chance?”  
“I already know I’m not going to like your Asgardian books. It’s bad enough listening to you and Thor talk in these weird-ass accents with your weird-ass way of talking. Have you guys even heard of acronyms?”  
“She had asked Thor to bring a mix of some older and newer, well known Midgardian books, as well.”  
Tony sat up, staring at Loki, “what books are those?”  
Loki looked at the cover of the book he was currently reading, “Shakespeare.”  
“You’re reading Shakespeare?”  
“Yes. It is... _it’s_... interesting. Mother brought a lot more. They’re over there, take a look,” he tilted his head in the direction of the pile of books.  
Tony got off of the bed and wondered over to the pile of books, looking at what each one was. The Lord of the Rings, Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the Da Vinci Code, the first two books from the Harry Potter series, the four longer books from the Sherlock Holmes series, as well as the book Loki had: something Shakespeare had written. “Damn. She managed to find some of the most popular books.”  
“Yes, that was her goal.”  
“Can you put that down?!”  
Loki glanced up at Tony, not expecting the sudden outburst. “What?”  
“The book. Put it down. _I’m bored_.”  
“Then _read_.”  
“I’ve practically memorized every line in Lord of the Rings. Narnia is for kids. I’ve read the Da Vinci Code. Harry Potter? Been there, done that. I don’t care for Sherlock or Shakespeare.”  
“Tell me Stark, what is it that would please you?”  
“Do you think Thor would get me any kind of scrap metal, tools and wires so I can try to build something?”  
“Doubtful...”  
Tony sighed, sitting down on the chair. With nothing better to do, he stared at the ceiling.  
“What could my putting down my book possibly do to rid you of your boredom?”  
“I don’t know, but at least you’d be as bored as me.”  
“Art thou -“  
“I swear to God if you start talking like Shakespear I am going to slam your head against that wall until you forget how to talk,” Tony muttered, not quite completely serious, as he pointed towards the barricaded wall that seemed to hurt Loki upon contact.  
Loki narrowed his eyes at the ignorant mortal as he closed the book, not catching on to Tony’s half joking tone. “Do you really dare threaten me? I have warned you, Stark, I _will_ find your tolerance level and I _will_ destroy you. Or, perhaps you have already told me. If I wish to know about your chest, perhaps I should rip it out and examine it, myself.”  
Tony stared at him, staying silent.  
“Ah? It seems that would be the way to go.” Loki stood up, leaving his book sitting on the chair, and walked towards Tony.  
“Stay away from me,” Tony warned as Loki leaned down on top of him. “I’m invincible.”  
“How confident are you about that?” Loki questioned, ripping Tony’s shirt off.  
“That doesn’t matter, you’re not touching me,” Tony growled, turning them over so Tony was on top of Loki. Before Loki had a chance to block it, Tony swung his fist into Loki’s face.  
Loki blinked, not expecting the sudden hit. He forcefully jumped forwards with enough force that he sent himself and Tony onto the floor, where he was back on top. “Do you not know your place? I am a _God_. You are in _my_ realm, in _my_ cell, and you are a mere _mortal_. You will _not_ attempt to harm me.”  
“You’re right,” Tony agreed. “I shouldn’t attempt to harm you. I’ll make sure I _will_ harm you, next time. Until then, _get off of me_.”  
Loki narrowed his eyes, staring at Tony for a few seconds before getting off of him, returning to his chair.  
“How often do you shower?” Tony asked, still on the floor. “You kind of stink.”  
“I assume more often than you. Have you smelled yourself? It is horrendous.”  
“Horr- what?! I showered yesterday morning.”  
“You could have fooled me.”  
Frowning, Tony pulled his shirt up to his nose and smelled his shirt, then raised his arm to smell his armpit. He didn’t smell bad. His deodorant and cologne was still intact, giving him a nice scent. “I think you're crazy. More so than before. I smell _good_.”  
“You are impossibly full of yourself,” Loki rolled his eyes.  
“Or am I honest? I’m only stating a fact here; I smell good.”  
“I beg to differ.”  
“Then maybe you should smell yourself. Seriously, how often do you shower here?”  
Loki didn’t answer.  
The silence brought a worry to Tony’s mind. “Loki? You _do_ actually get to shower, right? I mean, four thousand years in solitary is one thing, but ridding you of showers? They wouldn’t do that. Right?”  
“The other prisoners shower three times a week,” Loki slowly stated. “I shower once per week.”  
Tony stared at him in disbelief, “they get three, while you get one?”  
Loki nodded, “part of the ‘solitary.’”  
“You get _one_ shower every _week_?”  
“Yes? Why do you seem to have a problem understanding all of this?”  
“Um, because that’s not _normal_. That’s not fair.”  
“Yes, you have mentioned that.”  
“Guards!" Tony suddenly yelled. When the guards came running over, Tony requested Thor's presence, stating that it was important. They nodded, and sought the Prince out.  
“What are you doing now?” Loki asked, highly annoyed that he summoned Thor again.  
“I’m going to make this fair.”  
A few minutes later, Thor arrived. "What is it, Man of Iron?"  
"I feel dirty. I need to have a shower. Please, please tell me I can do that."  
"Loki has a shower scheduled for this...” he trailed off, realizing that he was going to sentence his friend to one shower per week.  
“Sometime next week?”  
Thor slowly nodded.  
“You’re telling me that I get to shower once a week? Is this with everyone else, too?”  
Thor raised his head to nod, but never completed the action. "I suppose... under these  
circumstances... I could try to get you your own time."  
"Every other day?"  
"Every other day?" Thor repeated, questioningly.  
"Yes."  
Thor looked thoughtful for a moment before replying, “I will see what I can do.” With that, he began walking away.  
“You are very needy,” Loki stated.  
“Hey, if I get this, you get it, too. I’m doing _you_ a favour.”  
“I do not need your favours.”  
“I think you do.”  
“I _know_ that I do not.”  
“I hope you remember that when I smell good and you smell like a dirty prisoner.”  
Loki glared at Tony, growling. “You are stuck with me, remember? So long as I stay here, you can’t shower.”  
Tony stared at the God. He knew there was no chance to get him to agree to do a selfless deed; it just wasn’t in Loki’s nature to be nice. However, it wasn’t supposed to be selfless. Tony only called upon Thor so that Loki would have somewhat of an easier time, though Loki refused to accept any help. “Why are you being so stubborn? I’m only doing this so you’re treated fairly, which you should already be. Do you _want_ to be stuck here under these circumstances?”  
Loki stared at Tony, saying nothing. Of course he didn’t want to be stuck with the current circumstances, but he didn’t exactly want to be helped out by a pesky, annoying mortal, either. He wasn’t _that_ desperate or pathetic enough to accept a mortal’s help.  
“Man of Iron, I come with news of glad,” a joyous booming voice suddenly announced.  
Tony jumped, and quickly turned around to face Thor. “I can have a shower?”  
Thor nodded, “every other day, one hour before the guards leave duty for the night.”  
“When does it start?”  
“Tonight,” Thor grinned. He was pleased to be able to help Tony with at least something.  
“Great! Thank you, Thor!”  
“I am glad to be of help!”  
Tony nodded in response, and turned to face Loki. “Well?” he grinned, pleased with himself.  
“Well, _what_?”  
“I got you a shower! You’re welcome!”  
“I do not need your ‘help.’ If I wanted one badly enough, I could have gotten one before you even arrived.”  
“Is that so?”  
“Yes,” Loki hissed, “it is.”  
“Well, then I guess you just won’t get one.”  
“Nor will you, if I refuse to move.”  
“Why do you have to make _everything_ so difficult?”  
“Why must you intervene with everything?”  
“Because,” Tony began, not having a complete answer.  
“Because _what_? You cannot possibly tell me that you _care_ ,” Loki spat. “What reason could you have for trying to help the very _God_ that threw you out of your own tower while attempting to rule your pathetic planet?”  
Tony frowned. When Loki put it that way, it didn’t seem very logical. He destroyed the city, took lives, tried to take over the entire planet, he brought an army of aliens down from some wormhole - which Tony had almost died inside, - and he had brainwashed so many people, yet here Tony was, fighting for Loki to have just as fair treatment as all the other prisoners.  
Part of Tony began to think he was an idiot for trying to get some decent treatment for Loki. ‘Fair’ treatment. After what he had done, how could giving him more than he already had, be considered fair?  
No, it didn’t matter what he did. No one deserved that kind of treatment. Just because Loki was acting that way, didn’t mean that anyone else had to sink that low. Besides, the fairness Tony was fighting for was between prisoners. In regards to what Loki had done, that ‘fairness’ was being dealt with by him being in solitary confinement for four thousand years.  
“Because,” Tony continued, “you should be punished for what you did, but not tortured. There _is_ a difference. What you’re undergoing here, is insanely cruel.”  
“That is -“  
“On Earth, no one is in solitary confinement for over twenty-three hours. More than that is _torturous_.”  
“Well, we are not on Midgard, are we?” Loki growled.  
“No, we’re not, but I’m going to get you decent treatment, anyways.”  
“You really do not know your place, do you? You cannot come in here and change the rules, _especially_ from inside a cell.”  
“There’s something you need to know about me.”  
Loki raised an eyebrow.  
“I’m Tony Stark.”   
Loki rolled his eyes as he took in a deep breath, preparing for some self-centered speech.  
“I’m a consultant. I know how to talk. I can do anything. Getting you a shower every once in a while? That was a piece of cake. What else do you need?”  
“I do not need your pity favours, Stark. Do not even pretend that these are _favours_. You are doing this for yourself as you are stuck here. If you had come to visit here on your own circumstances, you would stand before my cell, _laughing_ and _enjoying_ my punishment, as all others have.”  
“You aren’t telling me that others have done that..” Tony asked in a whisper, knowing full well that, that was what Loki was saying.  
“Would you expect any less? Surely you must have done the same upon seeing one of your mortal enemies confined.”  
“I’ve enjoyed a sight or two... but not enough to laugh or whatever people do here.”  
“It seems to boost the ego,” Loki muttered. “Everyone sees themselves as more fit for a King than the Prince, himself.” Sure, he was referring to the more recent encounter he had with anyone, and that was the guards, but more than just them had said that. It was a popular statement among guests.  
“You get guests that only visit you to boost their -“  
“I do not get guests. I get mocked by passerby’s of guests to others, and guards. To answer your question, no, Thor had not come to visit, yet. When you called him... that was the first time I had seen him since I got back here.”  
“Only your mom visits you then?”  
There was a long pause before Loki answered, “yes.”  
“There you go. You do get guests. You aren’t as lonely as you think.”  
“I am finished with this topic,” Loki announced. He was angry that he had already reveled so much. He didn’t even know why he did.  
He wasn’t confiding in Tony. No, no, he didn’t confide in _anyone_. Especially mortals. He wasn’t looking for pity, either. Perhaps... he just wanted to complain a bit. It didn’t seem like he could do that without endless questions or ‘help’ from Tony, though.  
“We were just getting started!”  
“Oh, shut up.”  
“If -“  
“I will tear out your vocal chords.”  
“You can’t -“  
“I _can_. You will be unharmed, but mute. Ah, that sounds wonderful... do not tempt me,” Loki smiled towards him.  
Tony rolled his eyes and flopped back down on the bed. With absolutely nothing else to do, he curled up underneath the blankets and took a nap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thank you to everyone who has commented on, given kudos, bookmarked and viewed this so far! c: x


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony has his first Asgardian meal, and meets a special visitor.

A few hours after Tony had fallen asleep, he awoke from his nap, and Loki had a new book.  
He didn’t bother asking how long he was out for, what Loki was reading now, or anything else that crossed his mind. Instead, he simply stretched and silently stayed in bed, staring at the ceiling.  
It seemed like hours were passing. Though, it could have been minutes. He couldn’t tell. He had never been more bored in his life, and that kind of boredom gave a distortion to time.  
“Oh,” Loki muttered, closing his book.  
Tony raised an eyebrow, observing him.  
Loki walked over to the front of the cell, where a table stood... A table that wasn’t there before.  
“Where’d that come from?” Tony asked, sitting up.  
“Downstairs... Below here is a kitchen.”  
“Food?!” Tony jumped out of the bed, and hurried towards the table, staving. “What is _that_?!”  
“Bildshnipe.”  
“B... what? Yeah, I don’t eat sniped bull.”  
Loki frowned, “sniped bull?”  
“Whatever you said,” Tony waved his hand dismissevely and returned to the bed.  
“You are not eating?”  
“Im not too interested in eating something that I’ve never heard of, from a planet I’ve never been to before now. I’ll just wait until the magic table brings breakfast.”  
“The ‘magic table’ only comes with dinner.”  
“You’re... you’re not serious?!”  
“I do not quite think you understand how hated I am, here.”  
“You’re being starved?”  
“I am a God. I can withstand more than -“  
“That doesn’t matter. You’re being starved!”  
“... My mother brings me food, daily,” Loki admitted.  
Tony sighed in relief, “okay. Good. So, what does she usually bring?”  
“Things you have more than likely never heard of, from a realm you have never been to before now.”  
Tony chuckled lightly, “alright. What’s that taste like?” he asked, nodding towards the whatever it was Loki called it.  
“I do not know any Midgardian terms to compare it to.”  
“Right... D’ya get much else?”  
“Not often, no.”  
“Then it’s this or starve, huh?”  
“If you are able to starve to death.”  
Tony sighed, “well, I don’t plan on dying here.” Getting up, he walked over to the small, cylinder-shaped table and grabbed the piece of bildshnipe. Without hesitating, he brought it up to his mouth and bit a piece off. “This is disgusting,” Tony screeched, spitting it out onto the ground. “It’s like... turkey, and ham and hamburger all in one, and,” he paused, “I want more.”  
Loki stared at him, confused as to how exactly Tony felt.  
Tony bit off another piece of the Asgardian food, and kept at it until it was gone. “That... was good. If this is the kinda food I gotta eat here, I’ve got no complaints.”  
“You missed some,” Loki muttered, pointing to the bits of food Tony had spit out from his first bite.  
“That... isn’t gonna get cleaned up unless I do it, is it?”  
“No.”  
“You have magic. You can just poof it away, can’t you?”  
“I _can_ , but I won’t.”  
“But -“  
“Don’t move,” a voice suddenly interrupted.  
Tony and Loki both turned to face the front of the cell, where five guards stood, opening the door.  
Two of the guards were the guards that mocked Loki on a daily basis. There was no way he could talk his way out of going. Tony was stuck with getting his way. “It appears to be time for your shower,” Loki grumbled.  
“Oh? Finally!”  
As two of the guards carried a box into the cell, followed by two others, Loki glared at Tony, giving him a death look. The fifth guard remained outside of the cell, locking it to ensure Loki didn’t escape.  
“What’s with the look? You can still have one y’know. Just because you said otherwise doesn’t mean it’s written in stone.”  
“I do not need your pity favours,” Loki growled.  
“It’s not pity. I’m -“  
“Are you that oblivious to your own actions? You show more and more compassion and an unnecessary amount of kindness as you find out more of the conditions of my sentence. I may not be as fortunate as your prisoners on Midgard to have such luxury,” Loki viciously stepped forwards, trying to get to Tony, causing the four guards to rush over and hold onto him, keeping him in place, “but I am _not_ suffering, and I do _not_ need your _pity_.”  
Tony backed up towards the wall, slightly afraid of Loki. Loki’s tone alone was enough to make Tony forget about his seemingly invincibility.  
Once Loki stopped trying to get out of the guards grasp, two of the guards held onto Loki while the other two opened the box and quickly put chains around Loki’s feet, wrists, and neck; just as they did when he arrived.  
Once Loki was confined, a guard put a simple pair of handcuffs around Tony’s wrists, then the two of them were escorted out with a guard holding each of their arms.  
“Heh...” Tony grinned at Loki as they walked through the hallways, “looks like you don’t get a say in whether you come or not, after all.”  
Loki growled, “when we get back to the cell, I will murd-“  
“Hey,” one of the guards interrupted, pulling on Loki’s chains, causing him to stumble, “stop threatening the mortal, or we’ll let him have his revenge.”  
Loki glared at the guards, but remained silent.  
Tony’s cuffs were removed and the pair were shoved into the showering room, and locked in, with nothing more but “we’ll be back in forty minutes,” from the guards.  
“Forty minutes? Damn, I’m only ever that long when I’m with a woman...”  
“I am quite glad not to be a woman,” Loki stated, sitting down on the benches by the doors.  
Tony stared at him for a moment before laughing, “me too. I don’t think you’d be very attractive.”  
Loki fought back a smirk.  
“What exactly did they mean by they’ll let me have revenge on you?”  
“Never you mind.”  
“No, I want to know.”  
“You can want all you like, I am not answering you. I suggest you use your time wisely; the guards are not known to keep their word.”  
Deciding it would be wise to trust Loki rather than not, Tony grabbed the back of his shirt and slid it off his body, throwing it on the benches at the opposite side of the room as Loki. Cautiously, he turned around to face Loki. “Why are you staring at me?”  
“I am locked up here with nothing, for forty minutes. You are the only sort of amusement I’ve got. What else is supposed to occupy my attention?”  
“I don’t know, stare at the ceiling, go to sleep, it’s all I’ve had to do. Take a shower, for Christ’s sake.”  
Loki huffed, turning his attention away from the mortal.  
Hiding behind one of the walls in the center of the room, Tony removed the rest of his clothes and began his shower.  
He washed his hair and body in a matter of minutes.  
With no other way to pass the time, he washed himself again.  
And again.  
And again.  
Finally, he decided four times was more than enough. He awkwardly got his jeans back on, and swung his shirt across his shoulder, sitting on the benches.  
The second he sat down, Loki’s eyes returned to him. Glaring. “Do you feel clean now, Stark?”  
Frowning, Tony slowly nodded.  
Loki made a “pfft” noise in response.  
Then, the two of them waited.  
Minutes later, the guards came in. Two took their spot on both sides of Loki, gripping his arms, two others cuffed Tony’s wrists again, gripping his arms, leading them both out, with the last locking the door behind them.  
Once they were inside their cell, they were both uncuffed and left alone again.  
Tony sat himself down on the bed with a relaxing sigh, but was quickly lifted up in the air by Loki gripping his throat. “What _now_?!” Tony croaked out. “Is my breathing bothering you again?”  
“Your breathing _always_ bothers me, you nyten ferhþgeníðla,” Loki growled. “But I do believe we came to an agreement that the bed is _mine_ tonight.”  
“Right,” Tony muffled out.  
Loki dropped Tony on the ground and took his place on his bed, sitting on it as though it were a throne.  
“What did you just call me?” Tony asked as he crawled up onto the chair.  
With his magic, Loki grabbed a new book to read, ignoring Tony.  
“Back to silence, huh?”  
No response.  
“You know, you’re _really_ good at acting like people don’t exist. Do you really hate people _that_ much, or is it just me?”  
“Shut up and go to sleep. I refuse to wake you come morning, and if you sleep through breakfast it is your own fault.”  
Tony debated on wether or not to sleep yet. He didn’t exactly have an alarm clock, or anything else to wake him up with. He’d awaken whenever his body felt rested... and he didn’t really want to miss food.  
With a sigh, he got as comfortable as he could and closed his eyes, welcoming sleep.

“Did I miss it?!” was the first thing to be slurred out of Tony’s mouth as he sat up, the moment he woke up.  
Loki gasped, startled. “Did you miss _what_?!”  
Tony rubbed his head as if to get rid of the head rush he gave himself, “breakfast. What else?”  
“Yes, you did.”  
Tony groaned. He stood up and stepped forwards only to have his feet caught in something, causing him to fall.  
Loki glanced up from his book to watch as Tony wiggled his way out of the blanket.  
“What’s this?” Tony asked, with a lost look on his face.  
“A blanket?”  
“Yeah, thanks, Captain Obvious. Where’d it come from?”  
“My... mother. She thought you were cold.”  
Tony smiled, “so I take it your mom isn’t as evil as you?”  
“Oh, just leave,” Loki muttered, pointing to the back of the room, where a door suddenly appeared.  
Tony stared at him, slightly surprised that he didn’t have to ask. “Thank you,” he spoke, before heading off to the bathroom.  
When he returned, there was another person in the cell. A woman... who was gorgeous, and blonde.  
“Hello,” Tony greeted in a tone more seductive than he had intended.  
The blonde woman in the blue dress laughed, “you must be Tony Stark.”  
He nodded, “and you are?”  
“I am Frigga,” she smiled.  
“I am pleased to meet you, Miss. Frigga,” Tony grinned, bowing down and kissing her hand.  
“Mother to Loki,” she finished.  
Tony could feel his face turning red. In the corner of his eye, he noticed Loki shaking his head before it dropped into his hand.  
“I hope you found use of the blanket,” she remarked, observing the blanket that was neatly folded on the chair. “You have very neat folding skills.”  
“Yes, very much. Thank you. I - oh?” he glanced over at Loki, who must have folded it for him, “um, thanks.”  
She nodded, “I came in to visit earlier this morning. Loki and I agreed it would be best to let you sleep.”  
“Loki... agreed? What?”  
“Well,” she shrugged, smiling, “when I say agree that it would be best...”  
“Ah,” Tony nodded, understanding what she meant.  
“Since you did not get breakfast, I have come back with lunch,” she gestured towards the table with a plate of food on it.  
“Oh? What’s that?”  
“Unhatched bildshinpe.”  
“Say again?”  
“Loki mentioned that you enjoyed last night’s bildshnipe. Of course, that isn’t a good morning food, so I spoke to Thor about what he ate while he was on Midgard with his woman. He said that unhatched animals were a very popular food for the morning, so... we have caught you some unhatched bildshnipe.”  
“Unhatched animals... Do you mean eggs?”  
“Yes! That was the name.”  
Tony laughed, “thank you, um," Tony frowned, struggling with what to call her, "Your Highness, err... Mrs. Loki’s mother -“  
Tony was interrupted by loud laugh-like noise escaping Loki’s mouth, which he quickly covered with a cough.  
“Please, dear, call me Frigga.”  
Tony nodded, though he felt weird about addressing the _Queen of Asgard_ by her first name. “You didn’t have to go through so much trouble. I mean, I appreciate it - but don’t go stealing any babies on my behalf. I usually just grab a glass of scotch, anyways.”  
“Don’t be silly, you are a guest of Asgard, and you shall be treated as such... as best as I can provide under these circumstances.”  
“I appreciate that. Thank you.”  
“It is my pleasure,” she smiled, before turning to talk to Loki.  
Tony stepped over to the table, and took a bite out of the bildshnipe eggs, finding that it was just as delicious as the bildshnipe. When he was done, he turned to thank Loki’s mom, but she was gone. “Where’d she go?”  
“Mrs. Loki’s mother?” Loki asked, obviously trying to hold in another laugh.  
“What else am I supposed to call her?!”  
“Perhaps Frigga?”  
“Isn’t it like, some sort of crime to call a Queen by her first name?”  
“Not if she introduces herself by her first name. You are truly an idiot.”  
“ _Whatever_. Where’d she go?”  
“She had to leave. She seems to like you...”  
“Really?”  
“I cannot possibly see why.”  
“Yeah? Thanks,” Tony muttered, sitting back on the chair. He just spent the day the same as the previous; staring at the ceiling, occasionally complaining to Loki about how bored he was, and drifting off to sleep every now and then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ' “Your breathing always bothers me, you nyten ferhþgeníðla,” Loki growled. '  
> Old English, again. 'nyten ferhþgeníðla' translates as 'ignorant mortal enemy.'


	4. Withdrawal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After so long without his daily drink of alcohol, Tony begins to develop a few symptoms of withdrawal...

_Where am I?_ Tony thought as he looked around. There was nothing. Everywhere he looked was a bunch of black nothingness; the only light was from Tony’s arc reactor illuminating through his armour, which outlawed any thoughts of being blind... or maybe he was just so used to seeing it, that the glow was engraved in his mind.  
Suddenly, a small, dim light appeared in the distance, causing Tony to sigh in relief. _Not blind, and not crazy._  
He stepped out to walk towards it, but his foot never touched the ground. He tried looking down to see what was going on, but he couldn’t see for the darkness. _Why does this seem familiar?_  
All he could do was wait for the light as it came closer.  
Eventually, it came close enough that he could make out what it was. That spaceship. That alien spaceship from Loki’s army that he had seen when he went up through that wormhole with the nuke.  
They were coming for him.  
Suddenly, something was around his arm; tightly holding onto him. His free hand flew up to feel whatever it was that was on him, to figure out what it was.  
The next second, there was a flash of green, and then everything was lit. He covered his eyes, feeling as though he were going to be blinded by the immense amount of light. Parting his fingers slightly, the first thing he saw was Loki, holding onto his arm. “Loki?”  
“Take this,” Loki growled to someone, harshly throwing Tony onto the ground, causing his head to hit the ground. “Figure out what that thing in his chest does. After I know, he’s yours.”  
A sound... a dark, vile sound began screeching - only for a moment, then it stopped.  
“After I know what it is, he’s _yours_ , that’s what’s in it for you. Get to work.”  
The sound returned.  
Through his dizziness, Tony groaned and repositioned himself so he could see what it was that Loki was talking to.  
Those aliens. _Loki’s army._  
“I think you’ll find that I cannot leave. We are... conjoined, by a curse. He cannot be more than a few mere feet before he is forced to my side.”  
The aliens picked Tony up and threw him against the wall. Tony struggled to free himself, but to no avail; his arms and legs got locked in wall mounted handcuffs; then they spoke to him, in that horrid screeching sound that he didn’t understand.  
“This is going to hurt,” Loki translated as the aliens left Tony, “but please do not scream, it is most unpleasant.”  
“What’s happening?! What are you doing? What are they doing?!” he tried to pull his arms and legs out of their binds, but they were too tight.  
The aliens returned, and began pulling on Tony’s armour to get it off.  
“That’s not how you do it.”  
The aliens spoke to each other, and one left the room, returning a moment later with a strange device. They plugged it in, and turned it on, and Tony immediately understood what it was for.  
They wrapped it around his arm, and began sawing through his armour.  
“Let’s talk about this,” Tony suggested, as calmly as he could manage, trying not to resort to using his repulsors. He needed to get free - _especially_ since he’d have to deal with Loki, as well - and he couldn’t do that if he was stuck to a wall. “You don’t need to break my armour, or do anything unnecessary.”  
The aliens continued to try to saw through Tony’s armour, ignoring Tony’s protests and attempts at talking his way out of it.  
“Just ask me what you want to know, _I’ll tell you_. You want to know what the glowing thing in my chest does? I’ll tell you, _if you put that down._ ”  
One alien turned to Loki and said something, then went back to work.  
“They want you to shut up,” Loki said simply. “Your voice brings a throbbing pain to their heads.”  
Tony stared at him, giving a dirty look. “Come on, we can ta-“ Tony paused, then let out a scream, “ _that’s my arm_! Jesus Christ, that’s my arm! You’re going to saw off my _arm_!”  
The aliens stopped, and removed the sawing device, then unlocked Tony’s arm, and attempted to pull off the armour from his arm.  
Tony let out a cry of pain, “ _that’s not how it was designed to come off_! You’re going to break my arm, if you don’t detach it from my body!”  
As expected, the aliens ignored Tony, and continued to rip the armour down his arm.  
Tony began to angle his unharmed arm towards the aliens, getting ready to blast them with his repulsors. Before he could shoot, an alien stuck a thin, sharp, long object through his hand, into the wall, breaking the repulsor, causing Tony to scream, again.  
“Fucking, _Jesus_!”  
“Ooh,” Loki frowned, “that looked painful.”  
The aliens continued their work; sawing off the armour from Tony’s other arm, then prying open his chest plate, then ungraciously ripped his shirt open, and began poking around at his arc reactor with more sharp objects.  
“No, stop it!” he protested, squirming around. “We can talk this out - I can tell you what it does! Don’t, don’t - _don’t do that_!”  
One alien pulled the arc reactor right from his chest, and handed it to another, who left the room with it. The remaining aliens continued to poke around his chest.  
Tony screamed in pain, giving one last attempt at pulling his hands out from their binds, before the remainder of his energy went to staying alive. His face began to turn pale, he felt weak, there was a tightness in his chest, breathing became difficult. The shrapnel was closing in on his heart. He was going into cardiac arrest.

  
Tony snapped upright into a sitting position, gasping for air.  
His chest felt tight as his heart quickened in pace. He was cold, sweating, and trembling; just as if he were being poisoned. After having so many anxiety attacks, he began to wonder if being poisoned would be easier.  
Looking around, he took in his surroundings. He was in Asgard, with Loki, in his cell. He was safe. Nothing could get in the cell, Loki and him weren’t leaving, and he couldn’t get hurt. How much more safe could he get?  
... He couldn’t. There was no amount of safety that could protect him from his anxiety and fears. No matter how safe he was, he would always be afraid.  
He pulled his blanket up over his head and rolled over onto his side, staring into the darkness as he attempted to get his body back to normal. _Slow, deep breaths_ , he told himself.  
As time passed, he tossed and turned into countless different positions, alternating between staring at the ceiling, wall, and the darkness throughout the cell.  
He couldn’t sleep.  
He didn’t want to - he knew that if he slept, he’d have nightmares. However, even if he wanted to... he wouldn’t be able to.  
He didn’t mind not being able to sleep. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was what to do. Usually, he would go down and tinker in his workshop. He didn’t have that in Asgard. He didn’t have anything. His worst lost, was alcohol.  
Alcohol kept him from caring about things; it was his ultimate distraction. Without it, getting himself back to normal was going to be a bit of a challenge.

When the hallway lights came on, signalizing that it was sometime in the morning, Tony got out of bed and sat in the corner with a book. He tore out page after page and began making useless toys, failed attempts at origami, and paper airplanes.  
“What are you doing?” Loki’s voice questioned in a groggy voice.  
Tony remained silent.  
“Stark, I am talking to you.” Loki got up off of his chair, and walked over to Tony, picking up on one of his paper airplanes. “What is this? What are you doing?”  
Silence.  
Loki let out a frustrated sigh and crumpled the paper into a ball, throwing it at Tony’s head. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with him so early in the morning.

As the hours passed, Tony didn’t leave his spot in the corner. Loki had taken away all of the books after yelling at him for abusing such things, so he no longer had anything to do. He didn’t bother trying to get Loki to conjure up some form of entertainment; not after the nightmare he had just had about Loki handing Tony off to a bunch of aliens to get dissected alive. It wasn’t as though Loki wouldn’t actually do... or, maybe he would, but he couldn’t... unless they did escape... which - _No! Stop it_ , Tony demanded of himself, shaking his head.  
Regardless of what Loki would or could do, Tony needed his space away from Loki. He had to convince himself that, even though he was with a psychopath who would gladly hand him over to face torture and death, he wouldn’t. That was considerably difficult, especially seeing how Loki had wanted to know about Tony’s arc reactor...

His anxiety wouldn’t leave.  
He stayed in the corner and mumbled things to himself, rocking himself slowly. The motion was soothing, and usually helped. This time, it hardly did anything.  
During his worse attacks, he’d usually take about an hour to calm down and return to normal. That was as long as it ever took. This time, it was taking longer. A lot longer. That worried him, and only led to him having more anxiety.

When the time came to shower, Tony stood under the water, in his clothes, unmoving for the entire forty minutes.  
When they got back to the cell, Loki used his magic to dry Tony off, so he wasn’t sitting in the dark corner in soaking wet clothes.  
Loki knew something wasn’t quite right, and almost felt as though he should do something more... but he couldn’t find it in himself to care enough to. He had finally gotten some silence. The books he had received from Midgard only came to his possession due to Tony’s arrival; they were originally for Tony so he would have some way to pass the time, though Loki was more interested. Since he had gotten them, he hadn’t yet been able to read them without Tony disrupting him with his noise, or distracting shananagins. He _finally_ had some peace and quiet to read. He was going to take advantage of that.

Suddenly, Tony got up, and began pacing around the cell, fidgeting with his fingers and biting his nails.  
Hours passed.  
Loki had fallen asleep in bed, and by the time he woke, Tony was still pacing.  
Breakfast came and went, and Tony hadn’t so much as glanced towards it or Frigga.

“Would you stop that?!” Loki finally snapped after some time.  
Tony slightly cringed at Loki’s voice, but pulled himself together and snapped back defensively, “stop _what_?!”  
“ _Pacing_. It is annoying. It has been all day.”  
Tony stopped pacing and stood in front of Loki with his arms crossed, “well what else am I supposed to do? Please, if you have any suggestions aside from reading, _I’m all ears_.”  
“Go find your limit and put yourself out of your misery.”  
“As _agonizing_ as it is being stuck with you, I think I’ll stick with this misery a bit longer, just because it’s _so_ much fun bothering you,” Tony growled, getting rather irritated with Loki.  
Loki turned his attention down to his book, completely ignoring Tony, ending the argument. Tony wasn’t acting normal, and Loki had no plans to take advantage of an ill man.  
Tony slid down the wall, sitting on the ground with a groan. “ _How_ are you not dying of boredom without kids to steal from, or innocent people to murder?”  
Loki looked up from the book he hadn’t yet gotten to read since he picked it up, and glared at Tony.  
“What’s the look for? That’s what you do, isn’t it? Insanely cruel things that only insane, cruel people do?”  
Loki jumped up from his chair, tossing his book somewhere behind him, and grabbed Tony’s throat, bringing him up off his feet, to Loki’s eye level. He was about to muster up a threat of sorts, but with the closeness, he noticed something different. Tony’s eyes were dilated, he looked exhausted, pale, and he was sweating. He was much worse than Loki had thought. “I do not know what is wrong with you... but I suggest you get your brain working, again. You know what will happen otherwise.”  
“What, you’ll threaten me?”  
“It is not a threat, Stark. It is a _promise_.”  
“Is that supposed to mean something? You’re a liar.”  
“Trust me, when I say that this promise I _will_ keep.”  
“Prove it.”  
Loki narrowed his eyes, debating on exactly what to do. Oh, he would _love_ to prove it to Tony, punching him and trying to knock him out... but Loki would never stoop so low as to kick a man when he was down.  
“Come on, don’t tell me you’ve gone soft,” Tony snorted, knowing exactly what Loki hated, and therefore, how to enfuriate him. “For a ‘mortal?’ You’re no better than Thor.”  
Loki slammed Tony against the wall as he threw a punch, sandwiching Tony’s head in between the wall and his fist. “Do _not ever_ speak those words again.”  
“What words? Oh... you mean that _you’re no better than Thor_?”  
Loki growled, throwing his fist into Tony’s face, again.  
“Come on now, is that supposed to hurt? You punch like a girl. _A mortal, five year old, girl_ ,” he spoke slowly, grinning.  
Loki grimaced, trying not to let Tony’s words anger him so much. He knew Tony was trying to get him all riled up, and Loki refused to give him that satisfaction... even if all of his buttons were being pushed.  
“What’s the matter? Trying to be the better person or something? Don’t try to kid yourself, Loki, you’re hopele-“ Tony was cut off by Loki throwing him across the room.  
“ _Shut up_!” he yelled, holding his head in his hands. “Just. _Shut. Up_. What is wrong with you?”  
“ _You_.” Tony snapped as he got up off the floor and stood in front of Loki.  
“If you do not wish to tell me,” Loki glared at him, “you can crawl back in your corner and suffer for all I care.”  
“I don’t need to be in the corner to suffer. No matter where I am, I’ll be with you. I’m suffering, _everywhere_.”  
“Good. I’m _glad_. You _deserve_ suffering.”  
“Not quite as much as you, Mr. Murder Everyone and Take Over the World.”  
“Oh,” Loki laughed without humour, returning his hand to Tony’s throat, “so we’re back to that, are we?”  
“Well, with all due respect... not sure how much that is... you _did_ do that.”  
“Please, don’t ever let me forget that,” Loki snarked.  
“As long as you don’t let me forget that you’re a God.”  
“So long as you do not forget you place, _mortal_.”  
“Oh, there we go again. Little mortal me. Hold on, it’s been five seconds since you last said that I’m mortal, would you like to remind me again?”  
Loki lifted Tony off of his feet, again, as his blood began boiling. He had never wanted to rip someone’s throat out more.  
“Come on. Give me some fun.”  
“Look at you!” Loki shouted. “You are _exhausted_. You are out of breath and sweating. You cannot possibly best me. You cannot possibly even challenge me; not in your condition. I refuse to fight with you while you are like this.” Loki let go of Tony, and he ungracefully fell on his butt.  
“God, I need a drink,” Tony groaned, running his fingers through his hair.  
Loki froze, staring at Tony. “Withdrawal...” he whispered.  
“What are you going on about, now?”  
“Yes, it must be. It makes the most sense...”  
“Do you -“  
“Shut up, Stark,” Loki interrupted, pacing around the cell, trying to figure out what to do. He began counting with his fingers. “Get on the bed.”  
“You know, I’m really not into that kinda thing. Not with you, anyway.”  
Loki slowly turned his head to scowl at him. “Oh, get over yourself, and get on the bed. I would quite like to have you not die on me today.”  
“What?”  
“It’s _nothing_ personal. I only prefer _not_ have a body on my floor. That makes for a mess, a smell, questioning, blame, and further punishment... Besides, if you are here torturing me everyday, I only see it fit that _I_ get to be the one to kill you.”  
Tony stared at him, then laughed. At least he knew he was safe from being handed off to aliens.  
“Just get in bed and survive the night.”  
With a huff, Tony got up off the floor and crawled into bed. He laid on his back and stared at the ceiling, knowing he wouldn’t get any sleep.

When morning came - or at least when the hallway lights came on - Tony shifted into a sitting position, with his back against the wall. He felt _nauseous_.  
Moments later, Frigga arrived with food, as usual. Loki rose from his chair immediately, and walked over to her and began talking. Then, she disappeared after handing Loki one of the plates. He sat back down, and ate.  
“Is this your plan?” Tony snapped.  
Before anything more could be said, Frigga returned. “Tony... take this,” she said, handing him a glass of something.  
“What is it?”  
“Mead. I am not supportive of this decision,” Frigga stated as Tony took the glass, “but we do not know how to cure you. Loki insists that giving you this would be easiest, if not best.”  
“Just the slightest bit,” Loki warned. “Ours is surely stronger than anything he has had on Midgard, and I do _not_ want to deal with a drunken version of himself. Sober is quite bad enough.”  
Tony didn’t pay attention to Loki’s words. He merely sipped at the drink he was offered, and suddenly began to feel... buzzed. A mere sip of the alcohol was probably equivalent to a glass or two of his usual drink. It tasted better, too. “Damn, this is...” he trailed off, interrupted by whatever he ate last, resurfacing.  
Loki quickly made a movement of his hand, he conjured up a bucket underneath Tony’s mouth before he could make a mess.  
“Well, that was unexpected...” Tony chuckled, feeling better.  
Loki sighed, and leaned back in his chair.  
Knowing he wouldn’t be allowed anymore if he asked, Tony quickly took another sip of the Asgardian mead while he could, before Frigga took it away.  
“That’s enough,” she said.  
“Ugh, it’s so good.”  
“Here,” Frigga handed Tony a bag of almonds and a little sack of blueberries. “With the help of Thor, I have gathered some things that should be more familiar to you. These should help.”  
“I’m not hungry.”  
“Yes, that appears to be a symptom... please, eat them.”  
Tony sighed in defeat and grabbed a handful of blueberries, shoving them in his mouth.  
“I have to go now,” Frigga told Loki. “I’ll be back later to check up on you two. Make sure he eats, and _don’t_ pick on him.”  
Loki rolled his eyes in response, not officially agreeing to anything.  
When Frigga disappeared, Tony laughed, “mama’s boy.”  
Loki glared at him, “I’m glad you’re back to normal,” he growled with heavy sarcasm.  
“So tell me,” Tony began, popping another blueberry in his mouth. “Why did you help me? Don’t say it’s because _you_ want to kill me or you don’t want a dead body laying around; I know you can easily fix any mess with your magic. I was really pushing you. There’s no way you would just... not kill me.”  
“Frigga.”  
“Frigga?”  
“When she came in and you were unresponsive, she began to worry, and made me agree to keep you well; in exchange for more books.”  
“Well that figures. What else is more important than your books?”  
“Exactly,” Loki muttered, agreeingly.  
“That didn’t stop you from hitting me, though,” Tony grinned. He was strangely satisfied that he had gotten Loki so riled up; he considered it a win that Loki made an agreement, and Tony caused him to lose. At least now they’d both be bored to death.  
Tony stood up, intending on doing something other than laying down, but the alcohol went to his head. He made a “whoo” noise as he felt just how much effect it had on him. He stumbled backwards, and fell back, sitting on the bed. Another sip and he’d probably be so drunk, he’d lose his mind. “So that was withdrawal, you say?”  
“Yes, it seems that you get sick without your alcohol.”  
“Well, it is my best friend that I love dearly.”  
Loki said nothing, continuing to ignore him.  
With a sigh, Tony fell backwards and stared at the ceiling. With his mind finally getting back to normal, he began to realize how much he depended on alcohol.  
He had gone through withdrawal once before, and according to Jarvis, he had an odd selection of symptoms: shaking, anxiety, irritability, unable to think clearly, bad dreams, headache, sweating and rapid heart rate. This time, he seemed to have most of those, plus insomnia, loss of appetite and nausea.  
The bad dreams and anxiety explained him having one of his worst nightmares to date, and being unable to think clearly explained how he couldn’t overcome the dream for so long or rationalize with himself. He _tried_ to reason with himself, but he ended up arguing with himself while he paced for who knows how many hours.  
It never occurred to him that he really _needed_ alcohol to solve his problems... He just needed it in the sense that he really wanted it; it was his answer to everything.  
“So, you’re not going to kill me?” Tony asked for clarification.  
Loki snorted, “just because I have helped you does not mean that I have chosen not to kill you. I would _gladly_ do so, and I am _very_ tempted to find a way to make it so.”  
“I meant, you wouldn’t send me off to that army of yours for them to, you know... do whatever they want?”  
“That is not _my_ army,” Loki mumbled.  
“And what does that mean?”  
Loki shook his head, regretting his choice of words, “nothing. Nothing, forget it.”  
“But-“  
“ _Forget it_ , Stark. I fail to see how it is your concern.”  
Tony groaned, and decided to give up and change the subject, “can I have some more of that mead stuff?”  
“No.”  
“Why not?”  
“You are already affected by it by a mere two sips. I do not wish to have you drunk.”  
“You should have some, too. You could use it; you really need to lighten up.”  
“Your absence is what lightens me up.”  
“Ah, damn. I guess it’s too bad that I’m stuck here, then. We should probably get you a substitute pick-me-up, huh?”  
“If you do not let it go, I will have to kill you sooner than later.”  
“I’d like to see you try,” Tony grinned, hoping to get a bit of fun out of Loki. He really didn’t want to go through _another_ day of pure boredom.  
Loki glanced up at Tony, tempted, and raised an eyebrow. “I... cannot.”  
“Why?”  
“You know why. I gave word to keep you well,” he grumbled, staring down at his book.  
“Oh, you’d really do anything for those books, huh? Even though I’m causing you so much trouble. Poor little villain, has to take care of the hero. That can’t be good for the ego, especially with all of these people to watch you be my nurse.”  
Loki looked up and observed all of the people in other cells. What _would_ they think? He was going to lose his image.  
“But I understand,” Tony continued. “Books are important. Even though you already attacked me and may not even get those books, now... I get it. Books bring you entertainment, and sometimes, knowledge. You may lose your reputation for changing from bad to good; the God that people should respect will turn into a joke... but at least you’ll have books. It’s not like taking care of a mortal will lower what people think of you...”  
Loki frowned, debating on what was more important: the only thing he had left: his image, or his books. “You _are_ well, now...”  
“Oh, but you don’t want to take any chances, huh? Even if I did rip apart your book.”  
Loki huffed and stood up, walking towards Tony, who mirrored his actions.  
“Don’t hold back,” Tony grinned. “I want _fun_.”  
“Why would I _ever_ do that?”  
“Well, you are a bit of a mama’s b-“ before Tony could finish, Loki punched him square in the face.  
“Do not go there, again.”  
Tony stepped slightly to the right and grabbed the vase that held a bouquet of flowers on the table, and smashed it against the side of Loki’s head. “What about there?”  
In turn, Loki grabbed the coffee table, and swung it at Tony, who went flying to the far wall from the impact. “Would you mind if I went there? Or rather, if _you_ went over there?”  
“Hey, there ‘ya go. You’re gettin’ the hang of it!”  
“Hang of _what_ , Stark?”  
“Hitting like a guy,” he laughed. “‘Bout time you get rid of that girly swing of yours.”  
Loki growled and lunged towards Tony. He held one hand around Tony’s throat and with his free hand, he grabbed a pillow from the bed and shoved it on Tony’s face to suffocate him - if that was possible.  
Tony squirmed underneath him. When he couldn’t escape, he wrapped his legs around Loki, and swung himself over on top of him. “Aha!” he yelled victoriously, before throwing his fist into Loki’s face. “You can’t _suffocate_ me. And I mean, really? Of all things to do, you chose that?”  
Loki brought his knees up into Tony’s stomach and shoved him off of him, then fixed the table with his magic and brought it over to him, throwing it downwards on Tony, smothering him.  
Tony kicked the table off of him and jumped up to his feet, then repeated Loki’s actions; grabbing the table and hitting Loki with it. Or, trying to. Loki caught the table and swung it, sending Tony flying in the wall.

The two continued fighting each other until the guards came in and separated them. Loki had been showing Tony just how much he annoyed Loki, and Tony was more focused on having some long overdue fun. There wasn’t quite anything Tony would rather do than get a confidence boost by fighting and being unharmed by a God. Oh, it would take a long while before he stopped enjoying it.  
The guards quickly chained Loki in his special cuffs, then threw on the simple handcuffs around Tony’s wrists and led them out, towards the showers.  
“Oh, it must be shower time,” Tony laughed. “Why exactly am _I_ in chains, anyways?”  
“You are a prisoner.”  
“I’m human in a world of gods. What am I going to do?”  
“You popped in here out of thin air and are in Thor’s special team. You may be mortal, but you are certainly not the weakest of them.”  
Tony nodded, “I’m taking that as a compliment.”  
“Of course. You would,” Loki’s eyes rolled. “Though I am not quite sure why that is all they have put on you, with your current state. They must be trusting that you’re weaker than you are.”  
“You don’t think I’m that weak, huh?”  
“I’ve seen stronger.”  
“Yeah, you’re a God.”  
“I’ve seen stronger _mortals_.”  
As before, the guards unlocked Tony’s cuffs and threw the pair in the room, locking it.  
“Well, that was exhausting,” Tony noted, referencing their fight. “I’m glad we decided to do that today, and not tomorrow.”  
Loki simply glared at him.  
“It was fun. Most fun I’ve had since I’ve been here.”  
“Is fighting the _only_ way you can have fun?”  
“No, but, what else is there to do?”  
“Undress me.”  
“I...” Tony blinked, confused. “Excu - I mean, _what_?!”  
“You heard me.”  
“Yeah, I’m just not sure I heard _correctly_. Say again?”  
“Undress me.”  
“... Are you kidding me?”  
Loki shook his head.  
“Um, why?”  
“Look at where we are, Stark. Is clothing required?”  
“Why do _I_ have -“  
Loki held his chained hands in the air, “does it look like I can do it myself?”  
“How did you do it before I came?”  
“Before... all of the prisoners were stripped. It was while we showered that our clothing got washed.”  
“Huh...”  
“Well?”  
“Well what?”  
“ _Undress me_ , you dense déor!”  
“Noo thank you. I only undress people in the shower if I’m going to -“ he cut himself off, chuckling awkwardly. “Yeah, let’s just, uh... You’re a God. I’m pretty sure you can just poof your clothes off or something. You’ll figure it out.” With that being said, Tony disappeared behind one of the center walls and began stripping himself, starting a shower.  
Loki, on the other side of the wall, struggled to get his clothes off. He got frustrated half way through and just tore his clothes off of his body. He’d have to fix that when he got back in his cell.  
“Did you just rip your clothes?” Tony called from his side of the wall after hearing the sound of clothes being ripped.  
“Yes,” Loki growled.  
“How exactly do you expect to get back to the cell, now?”  
“I am not ashamed of my body as you mortals tend to be. I will walk.”  
“ _Damn_. I thought _I_ had a big ego.”  
“Stark, you are existing in two dimensions because one is not enough for your ego. You have no room to talk.”  
Changing the subject, Tony asked, “what happened to not wanting any showers?”  
“I do not want your _favours_. This day, is my originally scheduled day when I shower.”  
“Whatever the difference is. A shower is a shower, stop trying to deny my help. You obviously need it.”  
“Silence yourself. This is not a place I’d wish to converse with you and your ignorant thoughts.”  
“Whatever,” Tony muttered, continuing his shower.  
When he was finished, he got dressed and laid on the bench that circled the perimeter of the room, making sure to keep hidden behind the wall.  
When the forty minutes were up, Tony was cuffed by the guards again, and led out alongside Loki, who hadn’t bothered with his clothes.  
“Oh my god,” Tony muttered when he noticed Loki’s lack of clothes, “you’re actually naked.”  
Loki gave him a slightly confused look, “did you not shower like that, as well?”  
“Yeah, but _I got dressed again_.”  
“Stark, how easy do you think it is to undress with chains on your hands, feet and neck?”  
Tony shook his head, “alright, point taken. You could at least carry your clothes to hide yourself.”  
“Why? It is not a secret, what I have.”  
Tony stared straight ahead, staying silent.  
When they got back in the cell, Tony kept his back to Loki as their cuffs were removed. As soon as Loki was freed, he used his magic to return clothes to his body and sat down in his chair.  
“Why didn’t you do that in the first place?”  
The last guard, who was locking their cell door, chuckled before leaving. Tony looked at Loki and raised an eyebrow.  
“It is none of your concern,” Loki answered, staring at the guard.  
“You didn’t even poof your clothes off... _Why_?”  
“Because I do not want to. Shall we leave it at that?”  
“Nope,” Tony denied, sitting on the floor in front of Loki. “C’mon. You gotta tell me.”  
Loki stared at him. “I will tell you... if you tell me what that does,” he pointed to Tony’s arc reactor.  
“Uhh... No.”  
“You considered it.”  
“That was a sarcastic ‘uhh.’”  
“That was a thoughtful consid-“  
“Would you just answer me?” Tony growled, interrupting him.  
Loki groaned, “I can’t.”  
“Yes, you can. You just _won’t_.”  
“No. _I_ _can’t_. That is why.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“If you are too dense to figure it out, then you do not need to know.”  
Tony frowned, thinking. “I don’t understand.”  
Loki sighed deeply, knowing that he wasn’t going to be able to leave Tony’s questions unanswered. “The cuffs; the chains...” Loki began, contemplating on whether or not to _actually_ tell the truth.  
Tony slowly nodded, waiting for him to continue.  
“They cut... They cut off my magic.”  
“Where’s it go? If I had another pair and connected them somehow, could I take it?”  
Loki’s head fell back, hitting the back of the chair, “you are an idiot. My magic does not _go_ anywhere. It is suppressed in my body, kept dormant; unuseable.”  
“Damn...”  
“Go to bed, Stark.”  
Tony glanced over at the bed, “don’t... you want it?”  
“I have grown accustomed to the chair.”  
Tony shrugged as he stood up, “alright.” He jumped on the bed and threw the blankets over his body. “Uh, hey, Loki?”  
“What?”  
“Shouldn’t you magic the room back to normal?”  
Loki glanced around the room at all of the broken furniture. With an eye roll and a swift movement of his hand, he fixed everything.  
“We should do that again, tomorrow.”  
“Do what?”  
“Fight. It’s fun. Especially when you get that worked up.”  
“I have been told that I have a deranged meaning of fun... yet, you think getting knocked around with a table is fun.”  
“What’s it matter what I get hit with? It won’t hurt me. Y’know, since I built it, I’ve always depended on my suit to help me out... but now my defense is stronger than ever, and I don’t even have it!” Tony grinned. “Though it would be nice if my strength had a boost...”  
Loki merely snorted in response. “Get to sleep.”  
“‘Ya care about me gettin’ rest, huh?” he winked.  
“Not in the slightest,” Loki muttered as he opened a book, “you are just more silent when you are unconscious, and that makes it so much easier to read.”  
“Eh, whatever,” Tony grumbled, turning to get more comfortable.  
It took a long while... but eventually, he drifted off to sleep as Loki finally, silently read his book.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case anyone isn't familiar with how withdrawal works, I thought I should clarify why Tony gets back to normal so fast;  
> Basically, (as I've heard) when one goes through withdrawal and they drink, it'll put off the effects of withdrawal, and they'll be 'normal' for a while. I figure, since Asgardian mead is more than likely stronger than Earth's alcohol, it'll effect Tony quicker, damn near instantly 'fixing' him.
> 
> \--  
> “Undress me, you dense déor!”  
> 'déor' translates as animal/beast.


	5. Home Sickness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony begins to feel home sick, missing his old life on Earth, and Loki decides to give something Tony is deprived of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning!  
> Chapter contains smut.
> 
> / First time writing smut, lol. ._.  
> Special thank you to Batwynn for giving me a hand on how to write it ~ c:

_Squeak. Squeak. Squeak._

Tony slowly opened his eyes, confused. Upon seeing something coming towards him, he tightly closed them again, and held his arms up to protect his face.

  
_Squeak_.

Loki laughed.

Tony shot himself upwards into a sitting position and opened his eyes to stare at Loki, who was sitting on the edge of the bed. He was actually laughing. Not just sarcastic laughter, evil laughter, or false laughter. He was _laughing_.

In his hands, was a toy chicken, of sorts. It was a bit deformed... or maybe it wasn’t supposed to be a chicken at all? Whatever it was, Loki smacked it against the top of Tony’s head. _Squeak_.

“What are you doing?” Tony questioned through a groggy voice.

“You said you wish to fight tomorrow. Today is tomorrow.”

“You think using a rubber chicken type of thing is a fight?”

“Forgive me. You stated that it did not matter what you got hit with. Perhaps,” he stood up, and the rubber chicken was suddenly replaced with a palm tree.

“Oh my god, what are you -“ Tony was cut off by his face being whipped with the leaves as Loki threw the tree down on top of him - hard enough that the bed collapsed underneath him. He made an “oof” sound, and began trying to crawl out from underneath the tree. “This is _not_ what I meant, Loki. You have to let me actually _wake_ _up_ , first, otherwise it’s not a fight.”

“Well, that’s no fun.”

“Oh, you’re having fun? Glad to see it. Let me in the bathroom and I’ll join you on that.”

Loki smirked as Tony rose to his feet, “make me.”

“Really? You’re going to slap me awake with a _chicken_ , throw a _tree_ on me, and not allow me in the bathroom?”

“Yes,” Loki hissed, with a sly smile.

“You’re a whole new kind of evil, today.”

“I’m merely trying to understand your idea of fun. It is surprisingly not all that hard...”

“Yeah, great, thanks for, uh, trying to find something we can do together, but, _I have to pee!_ ”

“What would you be willing to do for that opportunity? How desperate are you?”

Tony stared at him, “you’ve got to be kidding me? No, I’m not playing this game.” He wondered over to the wall where the door usually was, and began feeling the wall, trying to find some alternate way to open it. “Open the door!”

“Oh, Stark. Come, now. Have a little fun.”

“It’s only fun when my bladder isn’t full. For God’s sakes, Loki, open the door. Open Sesame?”

Loki made a hand movement, and at the front of the cell, right in front of the window, stood a toilet, facing sideways, so that all other prisoners would have the _perfect_ view of Tony.

Tony heavily sighed, “what do you want?”

Loki frowned, looking confused, “I do not know what you’re talking about.”

“You want something. Obviously. What is it? You want to know what this is, don’t you?” he pointed to his arc reactor.

“I was just looking for some fun...” Loki shrugged, “but if you wish to tell me, I am listening.”

“I’ll tell you, when you bring the door back.”

Loki sighed, and a door was on the wall.

Tony eagerly opened it, and ran into the wall, falling backwards on his ass. “Loki,” Tony growled.

Loki grinned, trying to hold back laughter, but failed miserably. The sight of Tony running into a wall was too good not to laugh at. “Well, you did not specify what you wanted on the other side of the door.”

“You know what I want!”

“You said ‘bring the door back,’ not ‘bring the _room_ back.’” Loki crossed his arms across his chest, “it is your own fault for being such an idiot.”

“ _Dammit_!” Tony yelled. He jumped to his feet, then walked towards Loki. “If it’s a fight you want... _I’ll_ _oblige_.” He pulled on Loki’s hair, bringing him down to his knees. “How was it you said it? Oh yes... _Kneel_!”

“I will never kneel for a _mortal_ ,” Loki spat, forcing himself back up to his feet to shove Tony backwards into the barricaded wall, causing feelings of electricity began pulsing through Tony’s body, which almost felt relaxing. Loki then moved to punch Tony, but Tony swiftly moved the side, dodging the hit. In turn, Loki punched the barrier, and his knuckles burned upon contact. He hissed and backed up a few feet, waving his hand in the air as he yelled in another language.

Tony took the chance to swoop in and throw an underhand punch to Loki’s face.

Having not expected the hit, Loki stumbled backwards, throwing his hand up to his face. Blood began falling from his nose.

Tony stared at him in disbelief for a moment before screaming “yes!” and throwing his arms in the air victoriously. “I did it! I hurt you!”

“Do _not_ flatter yourself,” Loki growled. “You _must_ have felt it; the shock from the barrier pulses through your body. It assisted you greatly... _cheater_.”

Some sort of green sparks came out of Loki’s hand and melted onto his face and on the back of his hand, healing his wounds.

“So, you can do that, too?”

Loki glared at him, with a much more evil look in his eyes than before.

Tony grinned, proud of himself. “Before you kill me... give me the door, _with_ the bathroom on the other side.”

Loki sat back in his chair, grumbling something that was still in another language, before he aggressively moved his hand towards the back of the cell, and the door appeared.

Tony opened it and sighed in relief, “ _thank you!_ ”

 

When he returned, Loki was back to normal; sitting in his chair, reading a book.

Deciding it would be best not to disturb Loki, Tony sat down on the floor, and picked up a book with a sigh. _Why not?_  


 

Three chapters in, Tony shut the book and groaned. Books were not his thing. He was never able to get into the reading thing - not unless it was for educational purposes, or it _really_ spiked his interest. Then, he could read any amount of pages in one night.

“I never thought I’d say this...” he began, putting the book back on the pile, “but I miss everyone back on Earth.”

Loki didn’t respond.

“Not really...” Tony muttered. “Well, I guess I do, but -“

“Shut up, Stark,” Loki growled.

“Would you?”

Loki looked up at him, “would I what?”

“Miss everyone on Asgard? If you were stuck somewhere else and couldn’t get back?”

“No. I despise this realm.”

“ _That much?_ Think about it for a minu-“

“I do not have to.”

Tony took a long pause before replying. “Why not?”

Loki huffed, “never you mind.”

“But you -“

“Please, enlighten me with your conflicting feelings of home sickness,” Loki requested more softly, yet unable to fully hide the sarcasm in his voice.

Tony frowned, knowing full well that Loki was trying to change the subject, but he didn’t deny the chance to talk. “Well, it’s nice to not have to go out and fight every villain and save the world every day... but I still miss it; flying around in my suit, getting to try out new installations and inventions after I make them. It’s fun.”

“Why do you not sound sure?” Loki questioned, _almost_ sounding interested.

“I never realized what it was like to _not_ have to do it all. I’ve been C.E.O. of Stark Industries since I was twenty-one. Then I became Iron Man and started fighting aliens. I’ve never really gotten a break, and I’ve done most of it alone... Yeah, I know, not anymore, but my team needs work.”

Loki slouched down in his chair with a heavy sigh, regretting trying to distract Tony by getting him to talk. Tony was not going to shut up, now.

“I need a drink.”

“You will have to wait until morning.”

Tony groaned. “Do you at least have any strippers? I haven’t been _this_ alone since...” Tony’s expression turned deep in thought as he began counting with his fingers.

Loki rolled his eyes, and got up to grab a new book. Looking through the pile, he sighed. “I need more....” he muttered to himself before returning to his chair, empty handed. He glanced over at Tony, who was still counting. “If it does not fit on your fingers, just say it is ‘too many years to count,’ Stark.”

“Since I was in... um, er, it’s been five years.”

“In what?” Loki pushed, curiously raising an eyebrow.

“In...” Tony hesitated. He really _didn’t_ want to tell Loki... though he said he would. Loki would bug him about it sooner or later. “A cave.”

Loki snorted, “I had always wanted to meet a cave man.”

“Ha-ha,” Tony grumbled. “It was when I got, uh... this,” he tapped his arc reactor.

“What is that? You do owe me an explanation, Stark.”

“It’s... uh. Well... It keeps me alive.”

“Yes, I had gathered as much... but _how_? Why do you have it? What does it do, exactly?”

“It keeps a bunch of shrapnel out of my heart.”

Loki blinked, staring at Tony’s chest.

“Right,” Tony muttered, taking Loki’s silence as a chance to change the subject, “so, back to the strippers. You know, gorgeous goddess babes? Got any around here?”

Loki narrowed his eyes, not removing his gaze from Tony’s chest, “no.”

“Dammit,” Tony groaned again, flopping backwards to lay down on the bed. The next second, Loki was standing at the end of the bed, leaning over him, staring at him. “What are you doing?”

“Observing you. Your... _science_.” Without warning, he ripped Tony’s shirt off.

“Jesus!” Tony exclaimed, sitting up and crawling closer to the wall, “what is wrong with you? You just ruined my shirt! I don’t exactly have a wardrobe I can just grab another one from.”

Not answering, Loki shoved Tony into a horizontal, laying position, and sat on top of him, reaching for the arc reactor; however Tony smacked his hand away before he got too close.

“Don’t touch that.”

“Why not? I do not intend to kill you; if that is possible.”

“I’m sure you would find a way.”

“Then why did you tell me about it?”

Tony didn’t answer.

“Surely you must know, Stark,” Loki murmured, leaning downwards to observe the arc reactor more closely.

“You told me your weak point; having no magic with those chains...” Tony trailed off, knowing Loki understood well enough to finish the sentence himself.

“Oh? Is that how we’re playing it?” Loki sat up and stared down at Tony, “confessing to each other? Playing it ‘ _fair_?’”

“This isn’t a confession booth. I just made it even. I won’t kill you when you’re all chained up; you don’t touch my arc reactor. Deal?”

“Ah,” Loki nodded understandingly, “so, this is an attempt at ensuring your life is safe? Had it ever occurred to you that you, instead, ensured your demise?”

“You know, I was really hoping that you’ve got a heart somewhere in that magical body of yours.”

“I will accept your request... on one condition.”

“What condition is that?”

“We make another deal.”

Tony sighed, “what deal?”

“You let me observe your chest... and I will teach you about magic.”

“If I say no?”

“I will get my way whether you agree or not. The question is, do you want something out of it?”

“Why would you give me something out of it?”

“If you get something, you will cooperate, and it will be easier for me to get what I want.”

“Of course. What use do I have for anything about magic?”

“You are a man of science. Surely you are no better than Thor’s Midgardian science woman; you will want to apply your science to everything.”

Tony shrugged, “yeah, kind of. Okay, you got yourself a deal. Just _don’t_ take it out.”

“Will that kill you?”

“If anything can, yes.”

Loki frowned, but nodded in acknowledgment. He ran his finger around the rim of the arc reactor, and leaned down, observing all angles of it.

“Do you have to be sitting on me for this? We could just... you know, stand up, or something.”

“I do not know how you will react to this...” Loki muttered, before sending a shock of magic into the arc reactor.

“Oh my... _**God**_!” Tony screamed, arching his back. The feeling of magic on his arc reactor was... overwhelming. Under normal circumstances, it would have probably burned him; bringing him a _lot_ of pain. Since the circumstances weren’t exactly normal... he felt what was happening, and instead of pain, he got a pleasurable sensation shoot through him.

Loki jumped up off of him, slightly strained by the position Tony thrust themselves into.

Tony eventually calmed down after a few moments, and Loki stared at him. He was highly confused, somewhat amused, and slightly pleased. “What just happened?”

“I was about to ask you that,” Tony panted.

“It seems you... enjoyed that,” he smirked.

“Jesus.... _Christ_ , don’t ever do that, again.”

“Hmm...” Loki grinned as the guards came in to collect them for their shower.

Once they were chained and left in the showers, Loki swiftly stepped to Tony’s side as Tony took his shirt off.

“Can I help you?” Tony questioned, pausing.

“I think I might take your advice...”

Tony let go of his shirt, allowing it to drop back down on his body, “what advice?”

“Shower.”

“O...kay? Thanks for telling me?”

Loki held his chained hands in the air, “help me out, will you? I’ve no magic, as you now know...”

Tony took a long moment before answering. It wasn’t exactly fair that Loki was chained up so heavily without being able to use his magic... and he was being nicer, even if he wanted something. It was only fair that Tony helped him out. There was just one problem. “How am I supposed to get your shirt off?”

“You’ll find a way.”

Tony grimaced, but began trying to figure out how to get Loki’s shirt off, beginning the puzzle of trying to undress him. After what felt like at least ten minutes, Tony gave up, and tore his shirt open in a way that ensured he could put it back on.

“Were we not trying to avoid that?”

“It’s _impossible_ to get it off any other way.”

“And my pants?”

“You don’t want to just, stay like this, huh?” Tony questioned, although he already knew the answer.

“Not particularly. This works best without clothes.”

“Right,” Tony nodded, and pulled Loki’s pants down, trying to find a way to get them around the chains and off of his ankles. It wasn’t possible. “This isn’t going to -“ Tony looked upwards to make eye-contact as he spoke, but his eyes got caught on Loki’s rather huge, ego-damaging manhood, which caused Tony’s eyes to widen.

Loki smirked, “enjoying the view?”

Tony jumped, having not realized that he had been staring. He fell backwards, flat on his ass. “I... I - uh...”

“No need to explain, Stark. It is quite the sight, hm?”

Tony brought himself back up onto his feet and turned his back to Loki. “No comment.” He took his shirt off and threw it on the bench, followed by the rest of his clothes. He quickly wondered off, far away from Loki, and turned on a shower head, covering himself with water.

Naturally, Loki followed, using the shower right next to Tony.

“Y’know,” Tony muttered as he turned his back to Loki and ran his fingers through his hair, getting it all wet. “It’s bad enough that this entire thing is out the open. Do you _have_ to stand right beside me? Go back to the other side of the wall.”

Loki didn’t reply, or leave.

Curious as to why Loki wasn’t responding at all, Tony looked over at him, only to notice just where he was staring. “What are you doing?!” he nearly shouted, turning his back to Loki, again.

“Are you ashamed? It’s really not that bad.”

“Wha-?! No! Of course not! This is what I brag about.”

“Then why are you hiding?”

“Because. I don’t want to brag about it to _you_.”

“Have I put you to shame in my presence?”

Tony turned around to look _only_ into Loki’s eyes, about to start an argument... but he couldn’t stop his eyes from falling downwards. “How is that even real?” he mumbled, “are you using magic? Did you lie about...?”

Loki slowly shook his head.

Tony began rationalizing. Even if Loki wasn’t somehow using magic, he was a God and Tony was human; it was only natural for Loki to be bigger... besides, he wasn’t _that_ much bigger, which certainly helped revive Tony’s ego.

“To ensure to you that I did not lie about these chains... my illusions wear off once it comes in contact with another being,” Loki stated. “Would you like to see if this is truly an illusion or not?”

Tony looked at Loki curiously, then slowly reached out. The closer he got, the slower his hand moved; so Loki stepped forwards, into the touch.

“Oh my god,” Tony gasped, immediately pulling his hand back.

“What is the matter, Stark?”

“It’s... real.”

“Of course,” Loki murmured, slowly dropping down to his knees. “Now, is _yours_?”

Before Tony could make a response of any kind, Loki reached out and gently wrapped his hand around Tony’s member, sliding his hand up and down the shaft.

Tony’s breath hitched, and he stood still, getting a crazy amount of pleasure from Loki’s actions. He really knew how to move his hands.

After a few mere moments, Loki’s hand disappeared, replaced with Loki’s tongue as he licked up Tony’s entire length, then he was suddenly back up on his feet, and in that moment, Tony was positive that Loki wasn’t a God: he was the devil.

Slowly, Loki walked around Tony, and stood behind him, “what do you say we try out a new form of fun, hmm?” he whispered, as he lifted his arms over Tony’s head, wrapping them around his throat, nearly choking him with the chains.

Tony searched his brain for a comment of some sort to retort back, but took too long thinking; Loki licked from Tony’s shoulder, up to the back of his ear, then began nibbling. “Well?” he breathed, sending a chill down Tony’s spine.

“I...uh...” Tony merely nodded; too dazed to form an actual sentence.

Loki chuckled softly; his breath traveled down Tony’s neck, sending another chill down his spine. “What should we do first?” he questioned, sucking on Tony’s neck as he began listing off several different ways of doing several things.

“Do it, all of it. What are you waiting for?” Tony grunted, getting more excited than it should. “Shut your mouth and begin.”

Loki raised a brow, highly pleased with Tony’s reaction. He hadn’t been expecting it; but it was certainly a pleasant surprise. He pulled Tony closer as his hands began traveling down Tony’s body. Tony could feel Loki hardening against his ass, causing him to grunt again as his head fell back against Loki’s shoulder.

“If you enjoy this...” Loki whispered, nibbling on Tony’s ear again, “you’re going to have the time of your life.” He bent Tony over; and Tony put his hands on the wall for support.

Loki kept close enough to Tony’s body that his hands were able to reach down, and grasp his member again, stroking it.

“Hnng, Loki,” Tony breathed.

Using his height, he leaned over atop of Tony to kiss his shoulder. “Mmm,” he purred.

Tony, hating how little he was doing, reached behind to grab to Loki’s ass, and pulled him closer, then began grinding against him.

Loki groaned, pleasantly surprised by another one of Tony’s unexpected actions, and moved his hands to hold onto Tony’s hips, as best he could with his cuffs on.

“You’re going to have to help me with this next part.”

“Wh-?” Tony began to question, turning his head to somewhat face Loki. “But we don’t have -?”

“The water will do. It will have to. Besides, you do not get hurt; you have nothing to worry about.”

Without further discussion, Tony slid his hands from Loki’s ass to his cock, and positioned him against his own entrance, then hesitated, taking a moment to think.

“Stark?” Loki questioned, growing impatient.

It was bad. Going through with what was happening would be so wrong... but it was the kind of bad that was exhilarating; it had never felt so good to be so wrong before - and Tony did a _lot_ of wrong things.

“Anthony?” Loki questioned, softly.

Well, that was that. “Do it,” Tony demanded.

Ever so slowly, Loki slid himself into Tony, while Tony let out a rather loud moan, “oh - _oh my god!_ ”

“Shut up,” Loki growled with a light groan. “You are going to attract the guard’s attention.”

Tony bowed his head down and took in a few deep breaths, trying not to let out any loud noises as Loki slid outwards, then back in at a slow and steady pace.

“Faster...” Tony whimpered. “Go faster.”

“In case you hadn’t noticed...” Loki muttered, “you’re a bit tight.”

“Then why didn’t you try to loosen -“

“Given our position and my being in chains, I saw it more convenient to skip that.”

Tony groaned in pure agony; having to put up with such a slow pace was going to be the death of him.

Gradually, Loki’s pace began to quicken, until he was vigorously thrusting in and out of Tony.

Tony, despite Loki’s warning, couldn’t stop himself from letting out another loud moan.

Loki gave up on trying to keep the guards at bay, as well, and let out a loud, long overdue moan as he rolled his hips, letting himself enjoy what little time they had.

“C’mere,” Loki growled, removing himself from Tony and pulling him upright. “Turn around.”

Tony frowned, slightly confused as to why Loki wanted him to turn around, but obliged, and tried to turn around. He slightly struggled in what little room he had in Loki’s cuffed arms, but managed to turn himself around to face Loki.

Loki bent down slightly, putting his hands on the back of Tony’s legs, and lifted him up, then shoved him back against the wall. Instinctively, Tony wrapped his legs around Loki, and grabbed onto the showerhead above him with one hand, and with the other, he placed Loki’s cock back at his entrance, and Loki thrust inwards.

“Wearg wuldorblæd, feorhgeníðla,” Loki muttered, picking up his pace.

“I have no idea what you’re saying!” Tony shouted with a moan, as he tightly held onto the shower head with both of his hands.

“It-“

“Shut up and just fuck me,” Tony demanded, fearing how much time they had left. There wasn’t too much else he could do other than talk, so that was just what he did. “Harder, dammit. Faster.”

Without even sparing a moment, Loki roughly thrust into Tony, harder and faster. “Anthony... touch yourself,” he panted.

Carefully, Tony removed one of his hands from the shower head and grabbed his cock, stroking himself in time with Loki’s thrusts.

“Gods,” Loki breathed, as he made a noise which sounded like a cross between a moan and a growl, as he stared down at Tony, very appreciative of the sight. 

“Loki... I’m... _ah!_ I’m gonna...”

“ _Come_ ,” Loki demanded in a low voice.

Tony shuddered as he came; spurts of his cum landing all over his hand and stomach - as well as on Loki’s stomach.

The sight of Tony having his orgasm sent Loki over the edge, and he roughly thrust into Tony once more, become he came inside of him, moaning much louder than he intended to.

“ _Jesus Christ_ ,” Tony nearly screamed, returning his hand back onto the shower head.

The two stayed in their position for a few moments to catch their breath, before Loki helped Tony get back on his feet.

“That -“ Tony began, only to get cut off by the sound of keys in a lock hole. “Shitshitshitshitshit.” Tony ducked down out of Loki’s arms and shoved him in the center of the shower, and tried to clean themselves off in the seconds they had left.

As the guards turned the corner, Tony made a panicked noise, and jumped away from Loki, “get away from me!”

Loki stared at him, completely lost, as the guards threw their clothes at them.

 

When they got back to the cell, Loki picked up a book and sat down in his chair, re-reading it as if absolutely nothing had happened, while Tony sat on the bed, staring at him, trying to figure out if what had just happened was real or not.

“Loki?”

“We are not discussing it.”

Tony nodded, and watched as Loki flipped his pages at in inconstant pace: he either didn’t spend enough time on a page, or he spent too long on the page. Tony was positive he wasn’t actually reading.

“Stop staring at me.”

Without a word, Tony looked away.

Moments later, his eyes returned to Loki.

“ _Stark_.”

“ _What?!_ I can’t help it!

Loki glared at him, “what is wrong with you?”

“Did that ... Did that _actually_ just happen?”

Loki frowned, looking down at his book, “yes.”

“So, I just... How? How did that happen?!”

“Consider it a favour.”

“A favour?”

Loki nodded, “you are no longer deprived of sex.”

“Huh, so that was a favour? What was it you were going on about favours being selfish?”

“That was _yours_.”

“Yeah, your little favour was completely selfless,” Tony rolled his eyes. “You seemed to _really_ enjoy -“

“We are not discussing this.”

“I think we are.”

“Get to bed. You must be exhausted.”

Tony sighed. Loki was right about that, at least. Tony had never had such rough and intense sex before. It was amazing... and very tiresome. He could always continue the conversation tomorrow. Besides, he didn’t want to miss breakfast. He’d rather wake up hours earlier than necessary, than sleep in.

Without bothering to reply, he curled up and fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> " “Wearg wuldorblæd, feorhgeníðla,” Loki muttered, picking up his pace. "  
> Roughly translates as: 'cursed glorious, mortal foe.'


	6. Surprises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony gets a surprise present from Thor... and back on Earth, the other Tony also gets a surprise.

“Urrrgh,” Tony groaned as he sat up in the morning. He was not ready to wake up, but he had been so _rudely_ awoken by people talking, _loudly_.  
Loki stopped talking, and looked over at Tony, glaring at him. When he saw Tony’s hand go down to massage his butt, he couldn’t keep from snickering.  
Frigga lightly elbowed Loki and turned her attention to Tony, “are you alright, dear?”  
“Yeah! Fine. Just feeling a little... um, stiff, I think.”  
“What ever from?”  
“Uh...” Tony chuckled awkwardly, trying to come up with an excuse. “I think it was the, uhh... the bed. I’m used to sleeping on something as fluffy as a cloud. Billionaire problems,” he shrugged.  
“Oh, I’m so sorry about that. Thor is having a custom bed built, just for you. It should be done anytime, and then you can -”  
“He’s - what?” Tony interrupted, stunned.  
Frigga smiled, “he wants you to be comfortable.”  
“I have a bed - I don’t need one custom made for me. I mean, I appreciate it, honestly I do, but you guys don’t need to go and have a bed made for me. I don’t expect to be treated like a King or anything.”  
“Everyone in Asgard has their own special bed. Thor see’s it fit that you get one, as well.”  
“This bed is fine, trust me. I spent three months being held in cave, I can handle this.”  
Loki and Frigga both stared at Tony. Neither quite knew what to say. Loki knew about the cave, but he had no idea it was for so long... and against his own will. Frigga was outright shocked. She would have never guessed that Tony had gone through such a thing, or that Midgardians were so... vile. “I brought you breakfast,” she whispered, gesturing to the table. “I should be taking my leave before I am needed. Tony, your bed should arrive today or tomorrow,” she smiled lightly.  
Loki huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, highly annoyed that his brother was making a bed for a _mortal_.  
“Oh, Loki, I’m sorry,” Frigga put a hand on his shoulder, sympathetically. “Look at the bright side: you will get your bed back!”  
Loki’s eyes narrowed as he stared directly at Tony. Tony could tell, they’d probably fight over who got what bed.  
“I will see you tomorrow,” Frigga announced before disappearing.  
“So,” Loki began when they were alone.  
“Don’t start,” Tony muttered.  
“Start what?”  
“Whatever it is you’re going to start. Nagging me about my ass, or the bed, or, God knows what else.”  
To Tony’s surprise, instead of some witty lie or remark, Loki held his hand out, offering to help him up off of the bed.  
Tony stared at Loki’s hand for a moment, deciding whether or not to question why Loki would help him... but decided against it, as he took Loki’s hand and allowed him to help him up.  
Without so much as a thank you, Tony headed off to the table to grab the awaiting eggs.  
“So?” Loki repeated.  
“What?” Tony mustered out with his mouth full of eggs.  
“What was that about? You cannot possibly tell me that you are sore; you are invincible... unless I have found a way to rid you of that power.”  
“I’m not sore... but I keep thinking I am. I _should_ be.”  
“Yes, I know.”  
“I’m paranoid that if I move too much, I’ll suddenly feel it.”  
“You are an imbecile.”  
“Leave it to you to understand,” Tony rolled his eyes as he shoved more eggs into his mouth. Next time, I’m making _you_ sore.”  
“Next time?” Loki raised an eyebrow.  
“Don’t tell me that you didn’t like that enough to go at it, again.”  
“Well...”  
“Well what?”  
“Well, I was, obviously, very good... You, on the other hand...” Loki shrugged, sitting in his chair.  
“ _What?!_ ” Tony jumped to his feet, and walked around the chair to stand in front of Loki.  
“I said, you were not -“  
“I heard you!” Tony leaned forwards, putting both of his hands on the armrests, so he was leaning right in Loki’s face, giving Loki no way out. “ _If_ I was _actually_ as bad as you claim I was... it was because I’m not used to being bottom. Tomorrow, _I_ top.”  
“You are so keen to have me again, tomorrow... You must like me as a lover,” Loki grinned.  
“Shut up,” Tony stood up straight, crossing his arms across his chest. “You’re allowed to just admit that you liked it, it’s _obvious_ that you do; you were louder than me. Come on, what’s the worst that’s gonna happen? We do it again? I think that’s a _pretty good_ outcome.”  
With an incoherent mumble, Loki rolled his eyes and sighed. “ _Fine_. I may have,  _slightly_ enjoyed it.”  
“And when would you do it again?” Tony pushed, with a small grin beginning to form on his face, ignoring Loki’s attempts at making his enjoyment seem insignificant.  
“Tomorrow will do.”  
“Damn right,” Tony grinned.  
“Oh... before I forget,” Loki frowned, and began digging around in the pocket of his pants, until he pulled out a small, black device, and tossed it to Tony. “This is... for you. I was going to keep it, but I do not understand it.”  
Tony swiftly caught it and sat down on the bed. “My god, this is my phone,” he smiled at the relief of having his phone back... but it was quickly replaced with a frown. “What am I going to do with it? I won’t get service on another planet... and I guess you guys don’t have internet, huh?”  
Loki just stared at Tony, with a confused expression.  
“Guess not... and I don’t have a charger. I could still take it apart and make - no. No, not without the right tools... _damn_. Well, at least I won’t be bored for a while.” With a shrug, he unlocked his StarkPhone and swiped through his home pages, searching for a game to play. “I have... _no_ games,” he groaned, laying back on the bed. “So much for that,” he sighed, lightly tossing the phone on the bed beside him.  
“What is wrong?” Loki asked, curiously.  
“It’s useless. No service, no internet, no games. Most of my apps require internet.”  
“Hmm... shame.”  
“Yeah,” Tony snorted. “You’re telling me.”  
Suddenly, big, heavy doors opened, then closed, and a lot of banging and yelling was heard.  
Tony and Loki exchanged a look before they both got up to stand by the window to try to see what was happening.  
Thor and three other guards, were carrying a bed. A _huge_ bed.  
Two more guards ran past Thor and the others, and opened up the cell door; one of them came in to stand by Loki, guarding him, while the other guard rushed in and moved all of the furniture against the far wall - including forcing Loki, as well as Tony against the wall, making room for the bed.  
Loki huffed and sat down in his chair against the wall, crossing his arms.  
Thor and his guards got the bed through the door, and set it down in the middle of the floor. It took up most of the remaining free space in the cell.  
“Man of Iron!” Thor’s voice boomed and he turned to his friend, “I come with a present!”  
“Well, where is it?” Tony questioned with sarcasm.  
“It is... It is right here!” Thor motioned to the giant bed.  
“Why did you do that?” Tony asked, careful to keep his tone light and curious. The bed was _at least_ Queen sized. It had a headboard and a footboard, both with some fancy design engraved in it, and two _huge_ mattresses - the both of them were at least as thick as three and a half normal mattresses. “There’s already a bed here.”  
“Man of Iron, as a teammate and a friend, it is our duty to look out for one another. This bed will suffice to you.”  
“But what about Loki’s bed?”  
“We will most likely have to remove it to make room.”  
“That’s not what I meant! You can’t - that’s his bed! He’s already got this wooden mess, you’re going to completely take that from him? Where’s he going to sleep? The floor? That chair?”  
Thor shifted his weight, obviously uncomfortable with the topic. “You will be here no less than a few weeks... I am compelled to ensure your time here is spent joyfully. Loki will be here for some time, and -“  
“Four thousand years,” Tony specified.  
Thor’s expression became strained. “Er, yes. Once this problems finds a solution, the bed will be inherited to Loki.”  
“Will it? _Really_?” Tony’s tone was a cross between hopeful and doubtful. It was only fair that Loki got _something_ better than the bed he currently had; a scrawny wooden thing with just one small mattress, but it was doubtful that Loki would be allowed to keep such a gorgeous bed.  
Thor nodded.  
Tony sighed, “thank you.”  
Thor nodded once more, and picked up Loki’s bed, and left with it, leaving the guards to slide Tony’s new bed into the corner, where the old one was.  
When everyone left and the door was locked again, Tony sat down on the new bed, and stared at Loki in amazement. “This is the comfiest thing my ass has ever felt.”  
Loki only frowned in response.  
“What’s the matter? We can share this, my offer still stands; you’re the one who decided to stop sharing.”  
“Are you aware of their lies?”  
Tony nodded with a heavy sigh, “yeah. I know.”

  
**Meanwhile, on Earth** , Tony also had some things to deal with...

After days of giving up sleep to tinker down in his workshop, Tony had finally finished his latest Iron Man suit: Mark 42. Excited to brag about it, he ran upstairs to find his friends to bring them down to check it out. Upon nearing the corner, he heard voices. He slightly peered around the corner just enough to see the Avengers as he listened in on an apparent meeting that was happening without him.  
“He would probably try to have sex with himself,” Natasha protested, crossing her arms across her chest.  
“He isn’t gay,” Steve objected, almost offended.  
“He would be for himself.”  
“I would, too, if I was him,” Clint stated. “I mean, if I had another me... not if I had another him.”  
Natasha rolled her eyes, "that doesn't matter. We need to focus on keeping this from Tony. More  
importantly, what's going to happen when he's back together?"  
"What do you mean?" Steve asked.  
"I mean, according to Thor, Loki is being significantly nicer to Tony than he is to anyone else. If Loki and Tony are getting along too well... Well, you know what Thor said in the beginning. What happens if he convinces Tony to become allies? If that Tony and our Tony join together again, what's going to happen to Tony? I don't want to take the chance of him turning into anything except what he is now."  
The group exchanged a series of looks; none quite knowing what to say.  
Tony spun back around the corner, and ran downstairs to his workshop. “Jarvis? Show me all of the recordings of the Avengers together, without me. I need to know what’s going on.”  
“Err... Sir, regretfully, I have been ordered to keep the information from you, at all costs.”  
“From who? Someone who doesn’t have as much power as me? You had better show me those recordings, or I’ll disable you and forget how to fix it.”  
There was a long pause before Jarvis replied, “yes, sir.” Immediately, the recordings were playing in front of Tony.  
He listened carefully about what each Avenger said, learning about what was happening. “There’s another... me? Stuck with Loki? In Asgard?”  
“Apparently, yes.”  
“This all happened when I fell through that portal... I’ve been stuck in Asgard with some psychotic, raging God for _weeks_?!”  
“If it is of any consolation, your duplicate self appears to be immune to any pain.”  
“Of course that’s not any consolation! I don’t care about my physical state, I can handle it, I’m worried about... Oh God,” he slumped back in his chair, throwing his hands over his face. “I can only imagine the hell I’m going through. The fear, the anxiety, the nightmares, the torture... I need to get myself out of there and I need to do it _now_. Or, as soon as possible. Jarv, give me all known data on the subject that you have.”  
“Yes, Sir.” Immediately, a screen appeared in front of Tony, showing several files including word documents, voice clips, and videos. Tony sat up, and began his night of research.  
“Tony?” Pepper’s voice called through an intercom, causing Tony to jump awake. “Are you okay? You have everyone worried; we haven’t seen you in days. You haven’t come up to eat, or sleep, or anything.”  
“Mute,” Tony commanded of Jarvis as he went straight back to work, scrolling through all of the information in front of him.  
Moments later, there was a knock at the door.  
“Pepper, I’m fi-“ Tony began to yell, cutting himself off when he saw Bruce standing on the other side of the glass door.  
With a sigh, Tony stood up and walked over to the door. “I’m not opening the door. I’m not coming out.”  
“Tony, I just want to talk.”  
“Talking has never been my thing...just like I know it’s not yours.”  
Bruce frowned; a slightly puzzled expression formed on his face. “I’m... sorry?”  
Tony said nothing; he just stood in front of the door, staring through at Bruce.  
“Tony, I think you need to sleep,” Bruce suggested carefully.  
“I have more important things to do,” Tony mumbled, beginning to turn away.  
“Tony, wait!”  
“ _What_?!”  
“What are you working on? Everyone’s worried.”  
“I _know_.”  
“What... do you know?”  
“Jarvis, unlock the door,” Tony commanded.  
A moment later, a _click_ was heard, and Bruce opened the door, stepping into Tony’s workshop.  
“And lock it.”  
 _Click_.  
“Tony?”  
“I know about me. The other me."


	7. The Nine Realms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Bruce pay a visit to Doom's machine to try to find a way to fix everything.

Five minutes - more or less - had passed since Tony broke the news to Bruce about knowing everything, and Bruce hadn’t said a word. He was completely frozen.  
Of course he didn’t know what to say; he had never kept information from, or lied to a good friend, before. What was he supposed to do? He wanted to come out with the truth and apologize... but he wasn’t supposed to do that.  
 _What would the other Avengers do?_ he asked himself.  
Natasha would probably play it off cool, lightly deny it and change the subject to something more important. Clint would either come up with an excuse to leave, or play dumb. Thor would most likely get the others. Steve would... well, who knows?  
Bruce didn’t feel like doing any of those - especially since Tony was closer to him than any of the others were.  
He took in a deep breath and approached Tony’s chair, where Tony went to sit after giving up on getting him to talk. “Tony, I... can explain.”  
“Don’t bother,” Tony muttered. “I’ve seen it all, and - have sex with myself? Really?”  
“We didn’t want you to worry. We know how you are with aliens and what happened in New -“  
Tony made an inhuman noise, and waved his hands around for Bruce to stop talking. “So you’re going to remind me about it all?!”  
“I’m sorry. We know how you are with everything, so we thought it’d be best we didn’t tell you. We didn’t want you to have to worry about anymore than you have to. We’ve got this under control.”  
“That was never mentioned _anywhere_ in all of your conversations.”  
“It didn’t need to be.”  
Tony narrowed his eyes. “Well, if you’ve got everything _so_ under control, why isn’t it fixed yet?”  
“Well... we don’t have a solution, yet.”  
“Do you even have a problem?”  
Bruce didn’t answer.  
Tony sighed and got up out of his chair, heading for the exit, “come on.”  
“Where?”  
“We’re going to your lab.”  
Without argument, Bruce followed.  
At the top of the stairs, Pepper awaited for Bruce to return and let her know how things went. At the sight of Tony, she gasped. “Tony! I’m so glad -“  
“I’m not here,” Tony interrupted, quickly dodging everyone as he made his way to his car with Bruce. They got in, and Tony started the engine and began speeding down the road. “You know, I don’t understand why you don’t just move your lab to the tower. I can share the basement. We could even have a little door connecting our rooms.”  
Bruce chuckled awkwardly, “that’s, uh... that’s kind of why. I like my privacy, and I need silence. You kind of play really loud music... all the time.”  
Tony frowned and looked over at him for a moment, “whatever.”

When they got to Bruce’s lab, Tony walked in like he owned the place, and walked over to Bruce’s table, looking at all of his paperwork. “You’re chasing all of the wrong facts. We’ve established that something malfunctioned, but we need to know _what_. You’ve got some good equations here, but we need to go there and repeat the process... as much we can without creating _another_ person.”  
“We can’t -“  
“We have to. I don't exactly want some duplicate of myself stuck in Loki's presence long enough to give myself a bad name. We need to know exactly went wrong and how. In order to do that, we need to examine the machine itself. Maybe we won't have to turn it on... but it is an option that we may not be able to avoid."  
Sighing, Bruce nodded. "Okay. Lets go."  
Bruce grabbed a box of tools, and they immediately headed off to the fight scene that no one had bothered to move, yet. When they were there, Tony grabbed his suit case containing his Iron Man suit, put it on, then grabbed hold of Bruce and flew up to the machine, and began examining it.  
“This tech is too advanced to exist.”  
“Isn’t yours?”  
“Yeah, but I’m Tony Stark.”  
Bruce rolled his eyes. “How advanced is it?”  
“At least... six years, maybe. I can figure out how everything works, I just need a minute.”

An hour passed.

Tony had a pair of wire cutters hovering around a wire, and let out a loud, frustrated groan as he removed them. “This won’t work. I can’t take the chance. He’s created hundreds of false parts and trick wires to keep us from figuring out what works and how. If we make one wrong move, this thing will either break, or blow up. We’d have to safely take it apart to figure this out... but we may not be able to put it back together.”  
“We can’t do that.”  
“I know!” Tony dropped his head in his hands and pulled on his hair. “This is going to take _forever_. He must have known this wasn’t going to work out the way he wanted... or he didn’t want it to. Hell, maybe he was just taking precautions. _I don’t know._ Whatever he thought, he was careful to keep how this thing works a secret.” He stood up and examined all of the switches, dials, buttons and meters on the control panel. “What do you want to bet that if you press the wrong thing, this will blow up or something?”  
“What we do, then?”  
“You’re going to tell the Avengers that you forced me to go on a business trip that I’ve been postponing... and I’m going to stay here for a while and try to figure this out.”  
“Alone?”  
“Obviously not. I need you. Tell them that you need to come examine this.”  
“Natasha’s been helping me with this... She’s going to want to come.”  
“If you can’t convince her not to, text me.”  
“How are you going to charge -“  
“You’re worrying too much. Loosen up and just go with it.”  
Bruce nodded. “Wanna give me a hand down from here?”  
“Yeah, sure.” Tony stepped back into his suit, and flew Bruce to the car. “If you scratch this car at all... I’ll fix this thing and send you through it.”  
Bruce nodded, and began driving home, while Tony flew back up to spend however long it took to figure everything out.

 **Back in Asgard** , Tony was having a much better time.

“I’m never leaving Asgard,” Tony purred as he snuggled into his blankets.  
“I am glad you are enjoying yourself,” Loki growled.  
“Mmm... me too. You know, I can’t believe you called me Anthony,” Tony chuckled, referencing their previous night.  
“Is that what you are thinking about in bed?”  
“What? I wasn’t thinking about _that_. Just what you said.”  
“Is it not your name?”  
“Well. Kind of. Everyone just calls me Tony. Only my mom ever called me Anthony.”  
“She stopped?”  
“Yeah,” Tony closed his eyes, frowning. “It’s kind of hard to talk when you’re dead.”  
Loki looked up from his book to look up at him, with saddened eyes.  
Tony brought the blankets up over most of his face, only leaving from his eyes up, uncovered. “Seriously, I don’t think I want to give this bed up, anymore,” he announced, returning to the previous conversation. “If you want to share, you’re gonna have to join me.”  
Loki made a “pfft” noise and rolled his eyes.  
Tony opened an eye to look at Loki, “what? Not intimate enough for ‘ya?”  
Loki glared at Tony and shook his head in disbelief at how early Tony could be annoying.  
“I feel like Sleeping Beauty, and you’re that drawf, ‘Grumpy.’ You need to lighten up and become a bit more like Dopey.”  
“... Excuse me?”  
“You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”  
“Not at all.”  
“Ask your mommy to bring you the kid’s book.”  
Almost as if it were on cue, Frigga suddenly appeared, carrying two plates of food and a stack of books.  
Loki’s face loosened up as he jumped off of his chair and took everything out of Frigga’s hands; setting the books in the corner, and the plates on the table.  
“Can I eat in bed?” Tony asked.  
“It is your cell; you may eat wherever you wish,” Frigga replied with a smile.  
“It is _my_ cell,” Loki retorted.  
“For the moment it belongs to both of you, and you are both free to eat where you prefer, just as you have been doing” Frigga stated, firmly, not allowing Loki to argue.  
“Loki, while you’re up, be a deer, and hand me that food?” Tony grinned deviously.  
Loki opened his mouth to object, but Frigga spoke before he could, “what is a deer?”  
“Err... Well, it’s an animal, but people call each other a deer when they’re being sweet, I guess.”  
Frigga smiled at Loki and nodded, “he is being sweet. Be kind in return.”  
Loki glared at her, but gave up with a heavy sigh, and picked up the plate of food and walked over to Tony, holding it way above his reach.  
Tony extended his arms upwards to grab it, but couldn’t reach. “Loooki,” Tony whined. “Give it to me.”  
“Where have I heard that before?”  
Tony’s eyes widened as his face became red.  
Frigga, from across the room, giggled.  
“Why are you laughing? You’re supposed to be on my side!”  
“She is _my_ mother,” Loki argued.  
“Yeah, so? I’m way more likeable. You’re evil.”  
Loki narrowed his eyes, and began to take the plate away.  
“Nyaaah!” Tony yelled, sitting upright enough to grab onto Loki’s arm. “Gimme!”  
“Stark, let go of me!” Loki growled as he raised his arm upwards, holding the plate above his head.  
“No!” Tony protested, climbing Loki’s body.  
Loki lowered his head, enough so to bite down on Tony’s shoulder.  
Tony immediately let go of Loki and stared at him. “Did you just bite me?”  
Loki nodded as he licked his teeth with a disgusted look on his face, “you do not taste good.”  
“But I did last night,” Tony winked.  
Loki looked over his shoulder, then back at Tony. “You are lucky she left us alone.”  
“Oh... god. I completely forgot she was here.”  
Loki rolled his eyes, “yes, you need a brain far more superior than yours to hold information for more than thirty seconds.”  
“Hey, I’m a genius!”  
“With a very short memory.”  
“I got distracted. Give that to me,” he jumped up and snatched the plate of food out of Loki’s hand. Content with himself, he sat down on his bed and got comfortable under the blankets, and began eating.  
“Where are your pants?”  
Tony looked down at his boxers, and shrugged, “under the bed.”  
“Why?”  
“I got hot.”  
Loki shook his head, “you are such a disgrace.”  
“To what?”  
“Creation.”  
“Evolution,” Tony corrected.  
Loki glared at Tony, but said nothing; unwilling to argue.  
“So,” Tony began as he finished his food and got up to put his plate on the table. “Of all things... _You bit me?_ ”  
“Yes,” Loki hissed, slamming Tony back against the wall. “I bit you, and I would do it again.” He crashed his lips against Tony’s and bit his bottom lip, pulling on it as he separated.  
Tony stared at him, blinking, before he licked his lips. “Well, damn,” he grinned.  
Without so much as a second thought, Loki returned his lips against Tony’s. They immediately parted their lips, and their tongues began dancing; battling for dominance as Loki pulled Tony closer; tight against his body. In turn, Tony fisted his hands in Loki’s hair and pulled him downwards, closer to his height; making it easier to kiss.  
When Tony was out of air, he forced himself to pull away. “Jesus Christ,” he breathed.  
“You may just call me Loki.”  
“Did anyone see that?”  
Loki turned his head to look behind them, at the other prisoners in their cells. No attention seemed to be on them. “I do not think so...”  
“Good,” Tony sighed in relief.  
Loki looked back at him and raised an eyebrow. “You are really that ashamed, that you must be on your toes to make sure you are never seen doing anything other than fighting with me?”  
“Don’t _start_ that.”  
“Start what?”  
“That whole subject. I’ve had _too many_ girls ask me that.”  
“I hardly see it fit to compare me to a mortal, Midgardian female,” Loki huffed.  
“Loki,” Tony groaned. “I just... it’s complicated. I shouldn’t... I can’t be seen doing... I just can’t. I know we’re both showoffs, but for now, let’s keep this a secret, alright? You’re supposed to be my enemy, not my lover.”  
Loki rolled his eyes, “whatever.” He retreated from the scene and picked up a book on his way back to his chair.  
Tony, as casually as he could, walked passed Loki and grabbed his book out of his hands, setting it back in the pile of books.  
“ _Stark_ ,” Loki growled.  
Without bothering to give Loki an explanation, he sat down on an arm rest, and put his feet up on the other one. “I’m ready.”  
Loki blinked, lost.  
“You have to teach me about magic.”  
Loki sighed. “What do you want to know?”  
“What do you want to know about ACDC?”  
Loki frowned, trying to figure out what ‘ACDC’ could possibly mean.  
“My point. I can’t exactly tell you what to tell me if I know _nothing_ about it. Start with the basics... whatever that is.”  
Loki’s frown deepened as he stared at his hands. “I... do not know how to. It would be like explaining how you can breathe without thinking about it. It is not the simplest of things to explain. Magic is second nature to me. It is just _there_. I use it as if it were an emotion. You just... feel it; express it.”  
“Well, teach me _something_.” Tony rested his elbows on his knees, and his chin in his hands. “I let you shoot magic in my arc reactor; you owe me.”  
“Can we not count our activities in the shower as a replacement to knowing about magic?”  
“No.”  
Loki slid his hands underneath Tony and scooped him up, then stood up and dropped him before sitting down on the floor, joining him.  
Tony glared at him, “just because I can’t get hurt doesn’t mean you can’t be gentle.”  
“Forgive me,” Loki said sincerely, with an eye roll. Tony frowned, unsure of if he was really being sincere, or sarcastic. “What else would you like to know? I could show you the universe... or,” he paused. “Hmm.”  
“I’d love to see that,” Tony said, looking at Loki with interest. “I used to stargaze. I kind of find space interesting; I even have a telescope in my room - but if you tell that to anyone, I’ll kill you,” he laughed.  
Loki waved his hand, and in front of them appeared an illusion, of space, and something that looked like a planet. “This, is Asgard.”  
“Where are we on there?”  
With his other hand, Loki pointed to the bottom of the city. “Here.” Most of the building was underground, but what was visible, looked old, dark, and almost scary.  
“That’s... fun.”  
“Hmm, yes.”  
“It looks like it’d be so easy to break out of here. Look at how old it looks... It could so easily ‘fall’ apart.”  
“Would you like to try?”  
Tony snorted, “not particularly, but nice try.”  
Loki shrugged. “This,” he pointed to the largest of buildings, “is where my mother resides. She visits us from here.”  
“How exactly does she visit, anyway?”  
“Magic. She is but a mere illusion.”  
“Illusions... are kind of like ghosts, right?”  
Loki pondered for a moment, but nodded, “I suppose so.”  
“Then how can she hold things and whatnot?”  
“It is complicated. Let us say, it requires a lot of skill.”  
“So, where did you live?”  
“Here,” he pointed near the top of the building.  
“Show-“  
“Now, this,” Loki interrupted as the image changed to something else, “is Vanaheim. Vanir home. My mother is from this realm. There was once a war between the Aesir gods - those are the Asgardians - and the Vanir gods. Afterwards, three of the Vanir came to live on Asgard: Frigga, her father, and his father.”  
“Are there any racists? Or, like... realmists? Whatever you would call it.”  
“Hatred towards a kind not of your own?”  
“Yeah, that.”  
Loki took another long pause before answering. “... _I_ believe there is, yes.”  
“Do others not believe that?”  
“We aren’t getting into this.”  
“But, was your mom accepted? Or did she have to go through hell until your dad - er, King decided to save her from everything, like some kind of fairytale?”  
“Fairytale?”  
“Well, that’s basically what you guys are. Thor’s friend, what’s his name? Aaron? Eric? Something like that. He has a book about you guys. You’re like a fairytale come to life.”  
Loki shook his head, “no, nothing ' _fairytale_  'happened. Frigga was accepted quite graciously, as I have been told. She is, afterall, the greatest sorcerer. No one has mastered it better than her.”  
“And you learn from her?”  
Loki nodded.  
“Who else did she teach?”  
“Quite a few people.”  
“How good are you - in comparison to them?”  
“I am the greatest.”  
Tony nodded, saying nothing more.  
Loki eyed him curiously, but changed the illusion. “Jotunheim. Home of Frost Giants... the most hated creatures by Asgardians.” Before Tony could ask what, why or how, Loki changed the image, again, to a realm called Niffleheim, which was “home to dishonored dead.”  
“Is that like hell, then?” Tony asked.  
“It is distinct, but closely connected to Hel.”  
“So, if there is a Hell, even though I don’t believe in it, what would heaven be?”  
“Your heaven, would... most likely be Asgard.”  
“Right. So is Odin supposed to be God? The one that everyone on Earth worships?”  
“Your God is known to be good, is he not? Odin is nothing like that.”  
“Good? Are you kidding me? This God doesn’t seem all that great. There are too many stupid rules. Don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t kill, remember this, do this, respect your parents, and you can’t love who you want.”  
Loki stared at him, and snorted. “Maybe that _is_ Odin.”  
“Is he that bad?”  
“Oh,” Loki rolled his eyes. “He is a murderer and a hypocrite. He makes countless laws but none apply to himself. The people that had died by my hands was a mere handful compared to the lives Odin has taken himself. He punishes me for my ‘tricks’ and lies, yet my entire life he has not gone one day without lying to me. He steals far more than I ever have - everything much more valuable, as well. He acts as though -“ Loki paused, and sighed. “I... apologize. I got carried away.”  
“Don’t sweat it, we all gotta vent every once in a while, right?”  
Loki slightly raised the corner of his mouth, and continued on showing Tony the universe. He showed Tony four more realms - Svartalfheim; home of the Dark Elves, Alfheim; which is occupied by Light Elves; Nidavellir, the drawves’ home, and Muspelheim; home of the Fire Demons - before showing Earth, “and this is your dull planet.”  
“Dull, yet you wanted to rule it.”  
“Hardly.”  
Tony laughed sarcastically, “right.”  
Unwilling to get into an argument filled of secrets, Loki killed the illusion, and stood up.  
“Why do most of these places end in ‘heim?’” Tony questioned.  
“Heim means home,” Loki clarified, offering a hand out to Tony, to help him up.  
“Well, that makes sense,” Tony noted, taking Loki’s hand; accepting his help without question. He knew if he questioned it, it wouldn’t last, and he much preferred the nicer Loki than the evil one. “Can I go there? To these other realms.”  
“Why would you want to do that?” Loki asked as he pulled Tony up to his feet, and in a swift movement, spun him around and sat him in the chair before going off to sit at the table; beginning to eat his cold food.  
“What... was that?” Tony questioned, staring at him.  
“Hmm?”  
“You just... spun me. Was that a dance move or something?”  
Loki rolled his eyes. “As if I would dance with you.”  
“Hey, dancing with me would do you some good. I’m a damn good dancer, and I’m sure you could learn a thing or two from me.”  
Loki raised an eyebrow, and stood up to walk over to Tony, standing in front of his chair. He took Tony’s hand, pulling him up to his feet and slid his free hand around Tony’s waist and held him close, while keeping Tony’s hand in his other hand. “Shall we test that?”  
“We have no...” Tony trailed off. “Wait!” He ran over to his bed and grabbed his StarkPhone, then began playing a song before returning to Loki; reclaiming his place in his arms.  
“You have music on that thing?”  
“Of course.”  
“Showoff,” Loki muttered as he began swaying in time with the music.  
Suddenly, the music changed from slow and easy, to fast, heavy rock, and Loki froze. “What kind of music is this?”  
“Uh... good music.”  
Loki shook his head and flicked his hand towards Tony’s phone, sending his magic into it, causing the music to turn more classical, beautiful and easier to dance to. “I do not know how you dance on Midgard, but I will show you how we dance here, in Asgard.” He tightened his grip on Tony, and swayed along with the music, again.  
“Yeah, this is how we dance on _Earth_. It’s just not as fun as dancing to what I had on before. You know, you aren’t even as good as you make yourself out to be. I thought dancing with a God would be impressing.”  
“I have not danced in years,” Loki muttered defensively. “What about _you_? You are not as good as you said, either. The only thing I could possibly learn from you is how to sloppily follow.”  
“That’s better than sloppily leading. The last time I danced was... Oh god, probably years ago, as well. I think it was with Pepper, at my party I wasn’t invited to...”  
Loki frowned, slowing his movements as he stared at Tony. “Who is Pepper?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry about how long it's taken to update!!  
> I promise I'll try not to have it be so long, again!


	8. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony is awakened from a nightmare in the middle of the night, and soon finds that Loki can relate.

Silence.

Tony had never been quiet for so long, before, and it was hard. He was only ever so quiet when he was sleeping or busy in his workshop, and unfortunately, he wasn’t tired, or home.  
He had help staying silent, though: every time Tony opened his mouth, Loki would make tape appear on his mouth, ensuring he stayed silent. Not ordinary tape, either: it was some magical tape that only Loki could take off. Fortunately for Tony, Loki wasn’t cruel enough to keep it there for too long; he always took the tape off after ten minutes or so. Nonetheless, Loki was still _very_ mad.  
Even the guards were a bit edgy about coming in to get Tony for their shower, so Tony told them to just go away and forget about it.

When the lights were out and Loki used his magic to create a light to read with, Tony took a chance to talk. “She’s not my girlfriend,” he blurted out as fast as he could.  
Loki huffed and glared at him. “That goes against your previous statement that she _is_.”  
“Can I explain?”  
“No.”  
“Loki, god dammit, listen to me. We were together, but she was about to leave me - I’m sure you can see why. She’s more than likely done it, already. Even if she hasn’t, she will. We have no future. She’s in my past.”  
“I do not care.”  
“Yes, you obv-“ Tony stopped mid-sentence, due to the tape on his mouth, brought by Loki. He groaned, and laid down in his bed, closing his eyes.

Without warning, something hit his face.  
“Blódfág helleséaþ!” a voice yelled. “Wake up, you hornungsunu!”  
Tony’s eyes shot open just in time to see a hand coming towards him. Reflexively, he threw his arms over his head as a small squeal escaped his lips.  
He waited, but the hit never came. Slowly and cautiously, he removed his arms from his line of sight, and stared at Loki, who was frozen with his hand in the air.  
Neither said a word.  
Breaking their eye contact, Tony managed to control his trembling long enough to huddle himself in a ball underneath his blanket, despite his sweating and the feeling of being smothered that the blanket brought. He slowly began to turn his small, short, quick breaths into calming, deep breaths.  
“Stark?” Loki cautiously asked.  
Tony swallowed, hard. Of all people to have to deal with, it _had_ to be the guy that he had majorly pissed off.  
A tightness in his chest became tighter; more painful, only reminding him furthermore of the nightmare he had just had.  
“Is this your withdrawal, again?” Loki questioned, “or are you dying?”  
Tony put his hand on his chest. It ached... it was burning; it felt tight. “I can’t breathe.” He jumped out of bed and grabbed onto the nearest thing, which was Loki’s shoulders, for balance. He closed his eyes, trying to stay calm, which he was failing miserably at.  
Loki just stared at him, not knowing what to do. Was the thing in Tony’s chest killing him? He needed that to live - didn’t he? What was happening to him?  
If Loki had known what was going on, or what to do, he might have done it, but he didn’t.  
Tony took in several more deep breaths. His heart slowly began to slow and his breath normalized, allowing him to breathe again. “If only I was that lucky,” he finally answered.  
Loki cocked his head to the side, “you are fine now? What was that all about?”  
“Anxiety... Panic attack. Who would have guessed?” he chuckled lightly, “ _me_ , having anxiety?” he ran his fingers through his hair, trying to carelessly play off his anxiety attack.  
“You are human,” Loki pointed out.  
Tony nodded and sat down on the bed, “no human should ever see what I've seen.”  
“What have you seen that is so terrible to send you into a haunting attack of fear?”  
Tony shrugged, “torture, aliens, space, falling, dying.. alone, losing everyone. Whatever stupid little fears there are to have... I’ve got ‘em.”  
Loki felt like he had just been slapped, upon realizing that _his_ actions caused Tony’s condition - though it wasn’t really his choice for doing what he did... but nonetheless, it was his fault.  
“Talk to me.”  
“What?”  
“Tell me about Asgard, or your childhood. I don’t know. Tell me something interesting.”  
“No?”  
“Why not?”  
“You can learn of Asgard from Thor or your fairytale books, and my childhood is none of your concern.”  
“Please?”  
Loki looked downwards, noticing that Tony was still shaking; he was still afraid. Loki sighed and shook his head, “what do you want to know?”  
“Anything.”  
“Would an illusion scare you further?”  
Tony shook his head, “your magic doesn’t scare me.”  
“Space does.”  
“Not the space you showed me. That kind of just, I guess, made me remember a lot of things. Seeing your nine worl - er, realms, was a lot to take in.”  
Loki nodded, and stared at his hands. It took him a while before creating an illusion; this time, it covered their entire cell, and they were inside of a bedroom. The walls were white, so Tony couldn’t really guess who’s it might be... until he observed further: the bedside table, the shelves, the window frame and the bookshelves were all green. The same green that Loki wore. As if that wasn’t a giveaway; on the shelf was that horned helmet Loki wore in Germany.  
“This is... _your_ room?”  
Loki nodded, “do not touch anything.”  
“Note to self: Loki does not like his stuff being touched.”  
“It is an illusion. If you touch it, it will disappear, _genius_.”  
Tony gave Loki a look before he jumped up to his feet and stumbled as he made his way over to the other side of the room; to the bookshelf full of books, which covered the entire wall. “Damn. I didn’t know you liked reading _that_ much.”  
“I read every day. Did you think I hated it?”  
“I don’t know, I assumed you only read because it was all you had to do.”  
“No... I do not do things that I do not like doing.”  
Tony nodded and looked back over at Loki. He was sitting on a canopy bed, which looked to be completely made out of gold - except for the sheets, which were black. It was huge. It was definitely bigger than a King sized bed. If it had a name, it would probably be God Sized.  
Beside the bed, on the table, was a photo of Frigga and a young girl who looked similar to Loki, inside of a shattered frame. “Is that your sister or something?”  
“Hmm?” Loki followed Tony’s gaze, and laughed. “Oh, that is me.”  
“You? But you...”  
“It was my first time successfully shape-shifting.”  
“You can do that, too?”  
Loki nodded.  
“How long did it take to do that?”  
“Quite a while. It is one of the most difficult things I had to learn.”  
“Please tell me you did something other than take a picture? I can’t even count the things I’d do if I were female... I really hope that the ‘God of Mischief’ has some stories to share.”  
Loki smiled, and began laughing, again, patting the space next to him. “My mother always tried to get me to stop playing such drastic pranks on Thor... but just that once, she played along.”  
Tony sat back down beside Loki, and listened, knowing that what Loki was about to say was going to be good - especially since Frigga helped.  
“Thor was training outside with Odin... They were not to ever be interrupted unless it was important, but my mother and I interrupted them with news that Thor’s ‘long lost sister’ had returned. He was not sure whether or not it was me playing a trick on him, so Frigga created an illusion of me sitting on the stairs, in the distance. Then, he greeted me as his sister.”  
“What happened when he found out you weren’t his sister?”  
Loki snickered, “I never told him.”  
“ _Ever?_ ”  
Loki shook his head, “he thinks she ran off somewhere, again.”  
“That’s comedy gold,” Tony laughed. “You are so evil.”  
Loki looked at Tony, almost smiling at him. “Is that not bad?”  
“Not all the time. Pranks are great! What else did you do to him?”  
“Thor has a helmet... I do not know if you have ever seen it?”  
Tony shook his head.  
“Well, you see... it has feathers. I cast a spell on it; so that when he wore it, it would him into a Pegasus.”  
Tony burst out laughing, and Loki quickly covered his mouth with his hands, killing the illusion.  
“ _Shh!_ Do not wake anyone. I do not want the guards knowing I am using so much magic.”  
“Sorry,” Tony muffled out in Loki’s hand.  
Loki made a face, and wiped his hand on Tony’s clothes.  
“What else did you do?”  
“Growing up, it was mostly childish, amateur pranks.”  
“ _Mostly_ , meaning not all.”  
“I once replaced his hair soap with dye.”  
“What colour?”  
“Blue.”  
Tony threw his hands over his mouth, trying to silence his laughter as he imagined Thor running around with blue hair. “What else?”  
“Childish fun. I, on several occasions, put itching powder in his armour.”  
“I would _love_ to pull some pranks with you.”  
Loki smiled, and yawned.  
“Why are you still awake?”  
“I am showing things to you.”  
“I mean, why _were_ you awake? Did I wake you up?”  
“No.”  
“Do you ever sleep?”  
“No,” Loki turned his head away from Tony. “Not really.”  
“Why not?”  
“You are not the only one with haunting dreams.”  
“Yeah? What do you dream about?”  
“That is a story for another time.”  
“Don’t make it a story: tell me in as few words as possible.”  
“In as few words as possible, darkness. Now, new topic.”  
Tony nodded, not bothering to push it, and laid down on the bed, pulling on the clothes on Loki’s back to bring him down next to him. Loki fell back, and turned his head to look at Tony. Tony just smiled.  
“So, this Pepper...”  
Tony propped himself up on his elbow and stared down at Loki. “Is _not_ my girlfriend.”  
“If she hasn’t left you, yet?”  
“Then she’d be dating the other me, which isn’t _this_ me. Look, whatever has or hasn’t happened, we just don’t go together. I’m a _lot_ of work, and she can’t stand me. Whether or not she’s with me back on Earth... to me, now, we’re over. We haven’t even acted like a real couple for god knows how long.”  
“The other you, and her might have worked -“  
“No.”  
“You cannot possibly know that.”  
“I can. I know our relationship well enough. Her and I have no future. I’ve known it before, I know it now, and the other me knows it, too.”  
Loki nodded thoughtfully, remaining silent. After a few moments of silence, he cleared his throat. “I... er... I suppose you have my apologies, for causing you to miss your shower.”  
“Don’t worry about it. It’s fine.”  
“Are you sure? I know how excited you were.”  
Tony chuckled lightly, “yeah. No, it’s fine. Really. I mean, I’m... er, it’s fine.”  
Loki blinked, staring at Tony questioningly.  
“I’m not used to this,” Tony admitted.  
Loki frowned, “to what? Being with another man?”  
“No, I’ve been with plenty of other men. I just mean, fucking the bad guy.”  
“You do not feel guilty, do you?”  
Tony shook his head no, “I like this. What we do, the way it feels, that kiss... It’s good. It’s just, I don’t know, the fact that you tried to take over my entire planet. It’s weird. I needed a minute; a breather. I almost, kind of felt like I was betraying...” Tony trailed off, pausing.  
Loki took Tony’s pause to get off the bed and head towards his chair.  
“Where are you going?” Tony questioned, jumping forwards to grab Loki’s arm - so much that he almost fell out of the bed.  
“To my chair?”  
“No,” Tony dismissed Loki’s answer as inadequate, pulling him back towards the bed. “I didn’t say ‘go away.’”  
Loki cocked his head to the side questioningly.  
“Just get over here.” Forcefully, he pulled Loki down onto the bed, laying beside him.  
“You are so confusing, Anthony.”  
“I -“ Tony paused to smile at Loki and the name he chose to use. “I used past tense, if you didn’t catch that.” He crawled on top of Loki and gently placed his lips on Loki’s.  
Loki closed his eyes, and wrapped his arm around Tony, returning the kiss.  
“See? Good,” Tony whispered as he parted, licking his lips.  
Loki smiled, and nodded, agreeing.  
“I’m tired.” Tony positioned himself so he was laying the proper way on his bed, and patted the space next to him. “Let’s sleep.”  
“You wish me to sleep with you?”  
Tony tapped his arc reactor in response. “I’m not about to send you into the darkness. I can be your night light, if you want.”  
“I do not need a night light,” Loki grumbled, laying down with his head on Tony’s chest, just beside the arc reactor.  
“Mhm,” Tony rolled his eyes, putting his arm around Loki, and closing his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Blódfág helleséaþ!” a voice yelled. “Wake up, you hornungsunu!”  
> = "Bloody hell!" a voice yelled. "Wake up, you bastard!"


	9. An Empty Bottle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tony and Loki discover they aren't too different, after all.

When Tony woke, his bed felt colder than it should. “Loki?” he asked with his groggy voice as he felt the mattress; not finding him.  
“Frigga sends her regards,” Loki’s voice replied.  
“Hmm?” Tony yawned and stretched as he sat up, before opening his eyes to look at Loki. He was holding a piece of paper.  
“Frigga. She could not visit, today. She sent some food to us with this note, sending us her best regards and an apology.”  
“I need alcohol,” Tony announced. He was beginning to feel... weird.  
Loki nodded and walked over to the flowers on the table, and pulled out a bottle. “Here,” he handed Tony the bottle.  
“You... had alcohol in the flowers?”  
“Yes. Frigga brought it a couple of days ago. I kept it until you needed it.”  
“Not that much!” Loki yelled, taking the bottle back.  
“You give it back!” Tony shouted, reaching to grab it, again.  
Suddenly, the bottle disappeared. “I do want you getting drunk, Stark.”  
“You won’t care if you drink, too.”  
Loki shook his head, and began walking back to the table.  
“Seriously, do you know how much fun we could have?”  
“You are a terrible influence.”  
“So are you. We’re the perfect pair.”  
“I am not giving you anymore.”  
“Since when did you become Mr. Responsible?”  
“I have _always_ been responsible,” Loki growled.  
“Well, then, lighten up!” Tony jumped up off of the bed, and stumbled as he felt the alcohol in him have its effect.  
Loki used his magic to catch Tony, shoving him back on the bed. “I do not need a drink.”  
“Fine. I’ll have fun _alone_. Give me the bottle.”  
“You will have to have fun _all_ alone, _without_ the bottle.”  
“I _need_ it.”  
“You should have thought of that before you developed such a dependency on alcohol.”  
“How do you think I became -?” Tony cut himself off with a sigh. “Give me the bottle.”  
“No.”  
Tony groaned.  
“See,” Loki began, sitting down on the floor, in the corner, stretching his legs out. “You are noisy enough sober. As I have stated from the beginning: I do not want to deal with you when you are intoxicated.”  
“Seriously, you will not care _at all_ if you drink, too. When was the last time you had some fun?”  
“I am _tired_ -“  
“How are you tired?” Tony interrupted. “You just slept on the comfiest bed in the entire worl - er, whatever.”  
“You are the _worst_ person to sleep with.”  
“That’s offensive.”  
“ _Listen_. I am tired, and I do not want ‘fun.’ I want quiet, I want a nap, and you being intoxicated is not going to do any good. You have had your drink. Enough.”  
“Don’t torture me like this.”  
“You have no idea what torture is.”  
“Yes I do. Give me the bottle. Please.”  
Loki blinked, staring at him. “Has the infamous Tony Stark just used his manners?”  
“I’m not infamous, I’m famous.”  
“ _Here_ , you are infamous.”  
“I will wrestle you for it,” Tony suggested.  
Loki snorted, “so it that it? The three ways to amuse you? Fighting, sex, and alcohol?”  
Tony grinned, nodding.  
“You are too much. Come here.”  
Tony began walking towards to Loki, but tripped over his own feet, and fell.  
Instinctively, Loki reached his arms out and leaned forwards, catching Tony. He made an ‘oof’ sound from the impact, then let out a small growl. “I said come here, not ‘attack me.’”  
Tony blinked, putting on puppy dog eyes, and leaned closer to Loki’s face. “Forgive me?”  
Loki closed his eyes, breathing in the scent of the alcohol in Tony’s breath.  
“Want a taste?”  
“I...” Loki frowned.  
Tony leaned forwards again, closing the space between them. Without hesitation, Loki wrapped his arms around Tony’s waist, and returned the kiss.  
Moments later, Tony pulled away, licking his lips.  
Loki rolled his eyes, “I hate you. Get off of me.”  
“Lokes, please.”  
“Lokes?”  
“Yeah, see,” Tony shifted into a more upright position on Loki’s lap, “I figure, if you call me Anthony, I can call you Lokes.”  
“ _Lokes_?” Loki repeated.  
“It’s Lokes or... Lokey-bear.”  
“No. Neither.”  
“Loki, Loki, bo-bokie, banana-fana fo-fokie, fee-fi-mo-moki, Loki!”  
Loki paused, staring at him. “I think I prefer Lokes.”  
Tony laughed.  
“Okay. Here.” Loki made the bottle re-appear in his hands. He handed it over to Tony, and Tony immediately took a sip. Without Loki telling him it was enough, he took another.  
“How strong is this?” Tony chuckled, “it feels _really_ strong - like, if Thor were liquidized and turned into alcohol.”  
Loki groaned, and rolled his eyes as Tony took another sip... followed by another.  
Immediately after Tony lowered the bottle from his lips, he felt dizzy, and all out wasted. “I...” he barely managed to slur out. Suddenly, he felt as though he was about to fall over, and waved the bottle around, trying to regain his balance.  
Loki raised an eyebrow, and took the bottle back from Tony.  
“You know...” Tony muttered out, blinking rapidly before he eyes remained closed. Moments later, he passed out.  
“Idiot,” Loki muttered.

  
“Urrgh,” Tony groaned, sitting up. Head rush. He flopped back down on the bed with another groan. He rubbed his temples, and slowly looked over towards the small green magic glowing through the darkness. “Loki?”  
No answer.  
“Loki...?”  
Silence.  
Tony slowly sat up, glad that he only got a head rush, and not a throbbing migraine as he usually did when he got hangovers. When he got out of bed, he was immediately greeted by the air much colder than his warm bed. He shivered, wondering what happened to his pants, but made his way over to Loki. Halfway to the chair, he hit something, and fell on the ground. “Ow,” he muttered instinctively.  
He sat upright and used the light of his arc reactor to see that he had tripped over the feet on Loki’s chair, which was laying sideways on the ground. “Lo...ki?” He looked back up to re-locate Loki’s light, but it was gone. “Loki, where the fuck are you?”  
Continuing to use his arc reactor as a flashlight, he began crawling along the floor, using his hands to search all around him, trying to find Loki.  
Eventually, Tony found him, by the arc reactor lighting up his eyes, when he was mere inches away. “Shit,” he gasped, jumping backwards.  
Loki glared at him.  
“Errm... did I do something?”  
Loki huffed, and turned his head away from Tony.  
“I’ll... take that as a yes,” he sighed. “I’m sorry?”  
Loki shoved Tony away from him and stood up, using his magic as light, guiding him as he walked to the other side of the room.  
“Loki? What did I do?” Tony asked, pulling himself up off the ground.  
No answer.  
“Loki, dammit,” Tony groaned, walking out to find Loki, again, “would you talk to me?” Suddenly, he stepped on something, and it rolled out from underneath him, and he fell face-first into the ground. “I am _so_ glad I can’t get hurt,” Tony muttered to himself. He searched the floor to see what he tripped on this time. He was surprised, to say the least, when he grabbed the bottle: completely empty. “Somehow... I’m guessing you didn’t throw this down the drain to keep from me from doing that, again?”  
Again, Loki didn’t answer.  
“For the love of God, Loki, light this place up. I know you’re capable of it. I know you’re here, I know you can hear me. You know I’m not going to give up. I’m _sorry_.”  
There was a long period of nothing, but finally, the room was dimly lit up, just enough to see through the darkness.  
Nothing in the room was in its rightful place: not even Tony’s bed - though the bed was the only thing that wasn’t broken.  
Looking around, Tony found Loki in the corner of the room. His hair was a mess, his outfit was torn and ripped, and he looked absolutely _awful_.  
“Loki?” Tony asked, slowly and cautiously stepping towards him. He knelt down in front of him, and just stared at him, unknowing of what to say.  
“What happened?” he asked after a while of silence.  
Loki slowly looked up into Tony’s eyes, and held his gaze for a few minutes. “I had...” he trailed off, looking back down at the ground. He brought his knees up to his chest, hugging them.  
“You had... a nightmare?” Tony guessed.  
“It was a haunting memory. It was very vivid.”  
Tony stood up, and extended his hand out to Loki, “come on.”  
Loki looked up at him confused.  
“We’re going over to the bed, and you can talk about it, if you want, and I’ll listen.”  
“Why?”  
“What do you mean why? Why not?”  
“Why would you listen to anything I have to say?”  
“Because, I know what it’s like, to have this and have no one to talk to. So, I’m giving you the help I never got. You deserve it. Come on.”  
Slowly, Loki accepted Tony’s hand, and Tony pulled him up to his feet, leading him to the bed. They sat down on opposite ends, facing each other, and Tony didn’t say a word.  
Eventually, Loki spoke. “I had a drink.”  
Tony nodded.  
“I had too much. I passed out, as you did. I had never slept for so long in... so many years. I had a nightmare I could not escape from. When I woke, the lights were out. I couldn’t... I didn’t know what was real, at that point. The nightmares became real, or rather...”  
“You began to hallucinate them.”  
Loki slowly nodded. The expression on his face told Tony that he wished he could deny it, but there was no way to. “Have you ever had such a terribly, vivid dream which felt so real, that even when you woke, you still thought you were dreaming? It feels like everything is real, and you’re truly living it?”  
Tony nodded, “yeah. I do.”  
The both exchanged a glance, and it was then that they both realized just how broken the other was.  
“So, what’d you dream about?”  
“Darkness.”  
“What more than that? What happened in the past that’s haunting you so much?”  
“It is irrelevant.”  
Tony made a ‘pfft’ noise, “I hardly think so.”  
“You would not believe me, anyway.”  
“Try me.”  
“You will hate me.”  
“Babe, I can’t hate you anymore than I did before - and even then, I let you fuck me,” Tony winked.  
Loki stared at him, remaining silent.  
“So, I joke to deal with things. That was my way of saying ‘I’m not going to hate you, trust me.’”  
Loki took in a deep breath, held it for a seconds, then blew it out. “A few years ago...” Loki began, only to trail off, thinking about what to, and not to say. “I fell from the bi-frost.”  
“The bi-frost...”  
“It is... to simplify for you, it is a big machine that throws you through space to other realms.”  
Tony nodded, ignoring Loki’s response that could be from a book ‘Asgard: for dummies,’ if such a book existed.  
“When I fell, I expected death. That wasn’t the case. I was taken in by Thanos, and for the next two years...” Loki paused, taking in a deep breath. He broke eyes contact with Tony, looking anywhere and everywhere else. “For the next two years, I was tortured, lied to, manipulated, and with the help of the Tesseract: mind controlled.” Loki paused. “He was _in my head_. He was _everywhere_.”  
Tony froze, staring at Loki, not even blinking.  
“Sometimes, I am not sure if I am just thinking about the things he said, or if he is back, and that is... It is the most horrifying thing.”  
Before Tony could stop himself, he lunged on top of Loki and hugged him tighter than he had ever hugged anyone else. “It’s okay. He’s not here, the Tesseract is gone; you’re okay. You’re safe, now.”  
Slowly, Loki wrapped his arms around Tony, hugging him just as tight.  
Tony knew what the New York incident did to him. He knew what it did to Clint. He knew what it did to Selvig. He knew what it did to everyone... but he couldn’t imagine what it had done to Loki - especially when it followed two years of torture.  
Neither moved, until Loki sniffled. Tony tried to pull back to look at Loki, but Loki tightened his arms around him, preventing him from moving and seeing him, and Tony understood completely.  
“When we get outta here, we’re gonna kick his ass. Or, I can, and you can stay back, and stay safe.”  
“We?” Loki repeated.  
“Well, yeah, you’re innocent, you have no reason to be in here.”  
“Not completely.”  
“What?” Tony pulled back out of Loki’s arms, and stared at him, awaiting an explanation.  
“I...” Loki sighed. “I destroyed Jotunheim. A good part of it, anyway. I murdered... many.”  
“And this was before...?”  
Loki nodded.  
“So you were, you?”  
“Yes.”  
Tony snort-laughed, “why?”  
“Why is that amusing?”  
“You think there’s racism, or realmism, or whatever you would call it. You seemed so pissed about it. It turns out that you destroyed part of an entire ‘realm.’ That’s kind of just... funny.”  
Loki rolled his eyes, “I had reasons.”  
“Which were...?” Tony pushed.  
“I had to fix the mess Thor created. He started a war.”  
“So killing their King and destroying their planet is how to bring peace?”  
“You know nothing of it, you cannot possibly understand.”  
“You’re right, I don’t and I can’t, so help me to.”  
“Another time. It is not important.”  
“Fine. You’re still not as guilty, then, though. Maybe you can stay in here for two thousand years.” Tony _tried_ to sound hopeful, but it didn’t come out that way at all.  
“What is the difference?”  
“Uhh... about two thousand years?”  
“Odin would never believe it. There is no proo -” Loki stopped mid-sentence, staring at Tony. “Does this mean you believe me?”  
“Yeah?”  
“You actually...?”  
“Why wouldn’t I?”  
“Why would you?”  
“I know the look in your eyes, the tone of your voice, drinking too much and hiding in the corner. Dreams so bad you don’t know what’s real and what’s not. The loss of words and knowing how explain it. You can’t fake that. Even if you _are_ the best liar ever... you can’t fake it _that_ well.”  
Loki smiled lightly.  
“Come on, then,” Tony laid down and folded the blankets over, for Loki to get in.  
“You cannot possibly expect me to sleep.”  
“No, but I’m not going to either, I just woke up.”  
“Then, why...?”  
“We’ve got a long night, we might as well get comfy.”  
“What makes you think I cannot be comfy elsewhere?”  
“You won’t be alone, here.”  
Loki smiled, and nestled up beside Tony, resting his head on Tony’s chest, and Tony wrapped his arm around Loki.  
Neither were able to fall asleep, but they stayed in their position, silent, merely enjoying each other’s company, for the rest of the night.


	10. Central Park

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony is finally sick of the cell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update!  
> Let me make it up to you with some smut!
> 
> ... Unless you aren't fond of the smut. In which case I will make it up another way, soon!

 

When the lights in the hallway came on, Tony yawned and stretched, which was shortly followed by movement coming from the other side of the bed. Tony looked over at Loki, who was laying on his stomach, face down on the pillow.

Despite his countless attempts, he hadn't gotten any sleep - and he knew Loki hadn't, either, so he knew it was safe to 'awaken' the God. "Good morning."

Loki groaned, and turned his head to face Tony. Slowly, he lazily opened an eye and looked at him, saying nothing.

"You look awful," Tony grinned.

"Speak for yourself."

"I feel awful."

"I, as well." Loki sat up, and waved his hand, and suddenly the bags under his eyes disappeared, his hair was smooth and styled as it always was, and he looked  _good_.

"Undo that."

"... Why?"

"You look good the other way."

"You said I look awful."

"It's a good awful. Bed hair suits you."

"I highly doubt that."

"Just do it."

"Is it not too early for you to be this annoying?"

"Is it not you early for you to look this good?"

"No."

"Come on."

Loki sighed, and used to his magic to make himself look just as he did when he woke up. "Better?"

"Yes," Tony grinned, pulling Loki back into his arms. "So, you can summon things."

"Yes?"

"Can you summon a bottle of lube?"

"Here? Now? Surely you do not like my hair  _that_  much."

Tony chuckled, "I'm not denying that - but I mean for later; I don't want to forget before we get in the showers. Unless you don't want any. It's your choice, but you're the one who's gonna feel it."

Loki took Tony's hands is his own, and conjured a bottle of lube in his hands. Immediately, Tony shoved the bottle in his pocket. Before he could say anything else, the familiar sound of the table in the corner of the room ascending from the kitchen was suddenly heard. Loki and Tony both sat up and looked towards it. There was food on it.

"I'm guessing this is the work of your mom?"

"It would seem so," Loki nodded, laying back down in Tony's arms. "But I am not hungry."

"I am." Tony slid out from underneath Loki, and grabbed both plates of food, sitting down with them at the table.

Loki propped himself up on his elbow and stared at him. "You are actually eating at the table?"

"Of course. Wanna join me?"

Loki rolled his eyes, and got out of bed - immediately stopping. "Where are my clothes?"

"You took them off sometime in the night when you yelled at me for producing so much body heat."

"Oh. I... apologize."

"Don't sweat it."

Loki nodded and continued walking to the table, sitting parallel to Tony.

"You drank an entire bottle of that shit, and haven't eaten since sometime whenever. Eat," Tony demanded, sliding the plate of eggs over to Loki.

Loki sighed, but picked up the fork and cut a small piece off of the egg, bringing it up to his mouth.

Tony smiled at Loki's decision to eat, then picked up an impossibly huge amount of food on his fork, and swiftly shoved it into his mouth. When he was finished eating, which took no time at all, he sat back in his chair, and watched as Loki ate with more grace and manners. "Why do you do that?"

Loki looked up from his plate, giving Tony a confused look, "do what?"

"You eat so slowly and politely - like you're preparing for dinner with the King."

"Well, I did grow up eating with the King every night..."

Tony snorted, "right. I didn't forget that."

"Of course not." Loki eyed him for a few seconds before looking down, and scooping up some more food onto his fork, bringing it up to his mouth.

Tony looked around the room, and sighed. "Can we re-organize things?"

"Why?"

"This is just... it's the same thing every day, all day. I've never even stayed in my lab this much without a break. I need change. I'm trying to make the best of things, but I feel so trapped."

"You have change: the showers."

"Forty minutes every other day? That's hardly change."

Loki finished his breakfast, and slid the plate in the middle of the table, then sat back, and gave Tony his full attention. "What sort of change would please you?"

"I told you."

"Changing the furniture placement. Then what? Changing it again?"

"I guess. Problem?"

"We are not changing the cell around. Think of an alternative."

"Why not?"

"Because, I said so."

"Oh, come on, only parents say that shit. Give me an  _actual_  reason."

"I do not want you messing up my cell."

"I can't do much worse than what you did last night."

Loki stared at him, frowning. "You have no reason to be sick of this place, you are only here a few mere weeks.  _I_  am here for  _four_   _thousand_ years."

"Well why the hell did you try to destroy an entire world?"

Loki stared at Tony in disbelief. Before Tony could try to take that back, Loki growled and stood up. "As I predicted... you do not  _care_. Forget I ever told you anything."

"Loki, I didn't -"

Suddenly, there was a wall. It appeared out of no where, between Loki and Tony, stretching across the entire cell.

Tony groaned.

With a sigh, he got up from the table and knocked on the wall. Upon contact, it disappeared.

Loki had his back turned to Tony, and didn't bother moving.

"That's not what I meant," Tony blurted out while he had the chance to talk.

Loki slowly turned around to face Tony, and glared at him. If looks could kill, Tony would be dead and gone.

"I didn't mean it like that."

Loki's hand began to move, but Tony quickly stopped him, grabbing his hand. "Don't."

"You do not tell me what I can and cannot do," Loki hissed, jerking his hand away.

"Stop shutting me out like that! Stop ignoring me when something doesn't go as good as a fairytale or when I say something stupid. Listen to me for once and let me try to fix it."

Loki continued to glare, saying nothing.

"I didn't mean that how you interpreted it," Tony repeated. "I was... I guess I was actually trying to ask why, in a really stupid, terrible way."

"Really stupid," Loki agreed.

"So," Tony walked over and sat on the bed, patting the space beside him. "Tell me? I promise I care, and I won't be an asshole."

Loki's eyes flickered back and fourth between Tony, and the space beside him. "It does not matter," he finally answered, turning to sit on his chair.

Tony jumped back up to his feet, and grabbed Loki's arm before he could sit down. "Can I ask you one question? Just one."

" _What now_?"

"Does it bother you? What happened, does it bother you, at all? In any way?"

Loki crossed his arms, thinking. "I... suppose. Possibly."

"Then..." Tony walked back over to the bed, dragging Loki along with him. He sat down, and scooted over, giving Loki room. "It matters."

"It does not matter to  _you_."

"And if I care about you? Then what? Does your well being matter to me then?"

"My well being?"

"Yeah. This isn't just a story. If it's bothering you, then it's about your well being. Look, the best thing to do is tell someone your side of the story. Going off of how many people that know you were mind controlled, I'd say you haven't shared your story yet, and it's about time you do."

Loki took a few steps back, and the wall appeared again.

Tony let out an exasperated sigh, and fell backwards.

Hours passed.

Maybe minutes, but it felt like hours.

Tony had too much time to himself, and he thought too much. Though that probably had some good in it, because he managed to work out what he needed to do to fix everything. So, he got up, and knocked on the wall.

Nothing happened.

Feeling brave - or possibly stupid - he backed up a few feet, and ran into the wall, breaking it.

" _Ouch_ ," Loki exaggeratedly muttered from the corner of the room, leaning against the small amount of wall which wasn't enchanted.

"Wait..." he turned back to where the illusion once was, then back at Loki. "What? That hurt you?"

Loki simply glared.

"Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was an ass, and I'm sorry I pushed you to tell me. It's what I do, I guess. I... fix things. I tinker. You... you're - you're not a project, and I'm not saying that you're broken, but I..."

"You've decided to take it upon yourself to fix me," Loki finished. "I am not some toy, Stark. I am not broken, and therefore cannot be 'fixed' - and if I could, it could surely not be done by  _you_."

"I don't -"

"Oh, leave me alone, would you?"

"Don't get upset, I didn't -"

Loki threw a handful of magic at Tony, hitting his cheek. "Do not make me repeat myself."

Tony's face dropped, as he stared at Loki. "You're -" He was cut off, by another flick of magic, this time hitting his nose. He sighed, and sat on the opposite side of room, on the floor.

What  _had_  to be hours later, Loki got up and sat on his chair with a sigh.

Deciding that Loki's action meant he was calmed down, Tony took in a deep breath. "Hi."

Loki picked up a book and opened it, completely ignoring Tony.

"Do you wanna take a nap with me?"

No response. Of course.

"I'm a bigger ass than normal because I'm tired, and you keep overreacting. We obviously need to get some sleep."

Loki looked up and glared at him.

Tony shrugged, "it's the truth."

Rolling his eyes, Loki's attention turned back to his book.

"You're all I've got now, yknow."

Loki blinked a few times, and slowly turned and looked back at Tony, clearly caught off guard. "What?"

"Here, now, you're all I have. You have books and magic and whatever, but I just have you, and... I guess I'm a little curious to know about you, and what happened - but you don't have to tell me right now. You don't have to tell me ever, if you don't want to. I won't push it, anymore. I'm sorry."

Loki let out a small sigh as his face became more relaxed.

"But I'm not really sorry for wanting change in this place. I mean, like you keep saying, I'm only mortal, and you're a god. I don't like staying in one place for long - unless Jarvis is there, and some scotch. Shouldn't you be used to this by now? - I mean, fuck, no!" Seeing the slightly offended look on Loki's face, Tony quickly moved over to Loki's chair and knelt down in front of him. "That's not what I meant. Not  _this_. I mean, being in the same place. It's just, you're older than me and I meant Asgard in general. You've been here - in Asgard - for a while."

"I suppose it is easier for me," Loki spoke, before Tony could say anything more.

Tony nodded, "I'm used to going to different places, not staying there for long. This is... a long time."

"If you could be anywhere right now, where would it be?"

"I..." Tony paused, thinking about that. "I don't know. Why?"

Loki stared at him, and closed his eyes. Moments later, they were in Tony's tower. Or rather, the illusion of the tower was in the cell.

Tony jumped to his feet and wondered around. Loki, who  _was_  sitting on his chair, was now sitting on Tony's couch. What was moments ago the bed, was Tony's bar. On the parallel side of the room, was the window, and that view of New York that Tony knew so well. "What...?"

"It is... from memory."

"When were you -? Oh, yeah. That's right. Right before you threw me out of that window," Tony grinned, pointing to the window.

"I... apolo-"

"No."

Loki raised an eyebrow.

"No," Tony repeated. "That wasn't you, you can't apologize. Besides," he sat down on one of the apparent bar stools, "that was kinda fun."

Loki got up from the 'couch' and sat down beside Tony. "Fun?"

"It was thrilling; not knowing whether or not the Iron Man suit was gonna reach me in time. I mean, of course it was, I'm hard to kill, but it was still a thrill."

"I have noticed."

Tony shot him a grin. "So, what else do you remember? This is making me home sick."

Loki's face became thoughtful, and moments later, they were in a park, sitting on a bench.

"Are you kidding? You remember Central Park?"

Loki shrugged, "it was big, and somewhat... nice."

"Got a soft spot for nature, huh?"

Loki made a 'pfft' noise.

"There's supposed to be a tree there," Tony pointed in front on the other side of the pathway.

Suddenly, a tree appeared.

Tony laughed, "it looks nothing like that, but close enough."

"You are  _so_  hard to please."

"Speak for yourself!"

Loki snorted, "but you are mortal. Are you not supposed to be amazed at all the insignificant things?"

"So, what, the only thing that amazes you are the things that are better than anything in any other world?"

Loki shrugged, "it should at least be better than anything in the current realm."

"Is that so? Well, here come the guards. I guess it's time to amaze you."

Loki's eyebrows raised, "you think you can  _amaze_ me?"

"I know I can. Why, do you doubt me?"

"Of course I do."

"Then, let's make a bet."

"What can you bet?"

"Whatever I can offer you. Think of something, I'll do it."

"And mine?"

"Whatever I want, you do."

"Challenge accepted."

Tony stood to his feet and held his hands out for the guards as they walked in the cell. As Loki was getting chained, Tony winked at him, and Loki shot him an unimpressed look.

Once they were taken to the showers, unchained and locked up in the room, Tony immediately shoved Loki against the nearest wall, and roughly pressed his lips to Loki's as he turned the shower on, soaking them in water. His hands traveled down Loki's body, and groped him through his boxers. He was  _so_  glad that Loki had never bothered to get dressed, again.

In need of air, they parted, and Tony began kissing down Loki's neck, lightly sucking on his nipple.

Tony looked up at Loki's face, to see that he was biting his lip to keep from making noise. "It doesn't count if you don't let yourself enjoy it, bastard," Tony muttered. He brought his lips back up to Loki's, and slid his hand inside his boxers, stroking him - causing Loki to let out a small moan against Tony's lips.

Grinning, Tony pulled away to appreciate the look on Loki's face. It had obviously been too long since he was properly pleasured.

"Kneel," Loki commanded, shoving Tony down on his knees.

Tony opened his mouth to object to Loki's everlasting commands to kneel, but decided doing that would  _not_  be amazing, so instead, he leaned forwards, and lightly sucked on the head of Loki's cock, swirling his tongue around before sliding his mouth further down. Thinking back on all of the best blow jobs he had ever gotten, he tried to mimic them, sliding his hands up Loki's thighs. One hand remained on Loki's upper inner thigh, and the other grasped Loki's cock, moving with his mouth, in slight circular motions.

Loki's head fell back against the wall, and he let out a noise that was  _almost_  a moan, which caused Tony's cock to twitch.

Determined to do better, Tony removed his hand and slid it back down to Loki's thigh, and took Loki's entire length in his mouth.

Loki took in a quick, sharp breath, "oh -  _oh_!"

Tony held back a smile, as he gagged a bit, then took Loki out of mouth to catch a quick breath, replacing his mouth with his hand.

He licked his lips, appreciating how hard Loki had gotten. "I don't want you getting  _too_  worked up here."

Loki looked down at him with a flash of displeasure on his face.

"Don't worry," Tony grinned playfully, standing to his feet, continuing to stroke Loki. "I'm gonna amaze you."

"You could start with taking your clothing off."

"Right," Tony agreed, pulling his shirt off. Loki stepped forward and began helping by undoing the button and zipper of his pants. Tony watched, grinning at him, and jumped out of his jeans and boxers, kicking them off out of the way.

Once Tony was free, Loki wrapped his hands around Tony's hard-on, and started stroking.

"Oh, fuck," Tony breathed, getting weak in the knees.

Loki began to descend to his knees, but Tony pulled on his chains, bringing him back up. Loki hissed at the usage of his chains, and Tony immediately apologized before quickly heading back over to his jeans, pulling out that bottle of lube Loki conjured up in the morning. He headed back over to Loki, grabbed his hands, and squirted a fair amount in his palms, and some in his own hands.

Loki, knowing what to do, grabbed Tony's cock again, and rubbed the lube all over him. Tony lightly tossed the bottle off to side, and pulled Loki closer, sliding his hands through the opening in between Loki's arms and his body, and his hands eagerly made their way to Loki's ass, and squeezed.

Loki made a noise of surprise and approval, and grinned. Tony glanced up at him, snickering before tracing his lube-covered finger along Loki's entrance.

"You know... what isn't amazing?"

"Hmm?"

" _Teasing_."

"You want it bad then, huh?"

"Stark," Loki almost pleaded.

"We're really back with that name? Anthony was almost growing on me."

Loki glared at him, and Tony grinned in response, sliding his finger inside. Loki's face immediately turned into a look of pure bliss, and Tony's grin widened at the transition, as he slowly slid his finger out, then back in.

"How often have  _you_  done this?"

"Are you trying to converse now? Of all times?"

Tony chuckled, sliding in another finger, "you asked me the same question last time."

"I have had many lovers."

"Elaborate," Tony requested, making scissor motions with his fingers.

Loki slightly tightened his grip on Tony's cock, "ah!"

Tony sucked in a sharp breath, pulling Loki closer, enclosing the little distance that was between their bodies, and slid another finger in alongside his other two. "You into girls, too?"

"More so than you right now, yes."

" _Harsh_!" Tony whispered offensively, taking his fingers out. "Arms up."

Loki made a sound of protest, giving Tony a confused look. Tony merely winked in response. Loki rolled his eyes, and raising his arms. Without wasting any time, Tony turned Loki around and leaned him against the wall, making sure he could support himself with his arms. Proceeding, Tony positioned himself against Loki's entrance. "Ready?"

"Yes," Loki answered simply.

Tony nodded despite being behind Loki, and slowly slid himself inside. Loki's head bowed down, and he let out a low moan.

Tony's hands began sliding all along Loki's body, and he slowly slid back out.

" _Why_  must you go so painfully slow?"

"Uhh, I don't want to hurt you?"

"I am a God -"

"Really?" Tony snorted, "I had  _no_  idea."

"I am not as easily harmed as you  _mortals_."

"Fine, you want to be treated like a God, I'll fuck you like you're a God."

"Amaze me," Loki challenged.

Tony grinned, and first tested to see how strong Loki's word was, by thrusting into him, faster, but not  _too_ fast.

Loki, in turn, let out a groan of delight.

Deciding to give Loki  _exactly_ what he wanted, Tony continued his fast thrusts at a steady pace. When he felt that Loki's body was used to him enough, he paused for half a second, and thrust harder.

A moan escaped Loki's lips, and as Tony began to thrust in again, Loki leaned his body backwards, meeting Tony half way. He let out a loud " _Oh_!" as Tony's full length slid inside him, while Tony groaned, and cursed.

"Fuck!" Tony paused, remaining inside of Loki. "You like it like that, huh?"

"Are you prepared to complete your challenge?"

"I was born ready." Tony shoved Loki back against the wall, withdrawing himself, then roughly thrust deep into Loki.

"Þurhwerod, ælmiht cwémnes, Limnacod! I... I need to move... my hands," Loki breathed, trying to re-position himself.

"Nu-uh," Tony protested, slamming his hand on top of Loki's, holding them against the wall. " _I_  amaze you." With his free hand, he reached down and grabbed Loki's cock, stroking him in time with his thrusts.

Loki's breath hitched, and his hands slowly formed into fists. "I'm gonna -" he gasped when Tony suddenly began thrusting harder.

"Yes, come on.  _Come for me_!"

"You earnian -  _Anthony_!" Loki nearly screamed as his release came. Spurts of his cum landed on his chest, Tony's hand and the wall; which the shower easily washed down the drain.

Moments later, Tony followed; coming inside of Loki with a heavy groan. He lightly dropped himself on top of Loki, panting lightly. "Damn."

Loki re-positioned his feet, trying to support Tony's sudden weight, "get off of me."

"Your mood changes quickly," Tony muttered.

"I would rather have you  _in_  me, as opposed to having me support your weight on my back."

"Fair..." Tony paused, standing up and pulling out of Loki, "enough."

Loki sighed, and carefully stood up, standing under the shower.

Tony joined him in the center, under the majority of the water. He grabbed Loki's ass, and pulled him forwards, causing him to stumble. Tony caught and steadied him with ease, holding him close.

"If you do that one more time -"

Tony silenced him by crashing their lips together. They both parted their lips and their tongues began dancing.

Suddenly, the sound of keys being fiddled with was heard near the door.

Loki's head snapped up, turning to the door.

Tony squeezed his butt, bringing Loki's attention back down to him. "That was rude, I was enjoying myself."

Loki rolled his eyes and pulled his boxer briefs back up, then retreated down the room, turning on a shower a few feet away.

Without further ado, the guards walked in the room to collect Tony and Loki.

Tony immediately dropped to his knees on top of the lube, hiding it. He didn't want Loki to get in trouble for using magic - or for their dirty little secret to get discovered.

Loki turned off his shower, and walked to the guards, kicking Tony's clothes towards him on his way by.

Tony grabbed his pants and shoved the bottle of lube inside the pocket, then proceeded to put his boxers on. He swung his shirt and pants over his shoulder, unwilling to put them on since they were soaked. Holding his hands out, the guards cuffed him and led the two back to their cell.

Once they were alone, Loki was the first to flop down on the bed.

"Exhausted?"

"Quite," Loki confirmed.

"So," Tony faced Loki's chair towards the bed and sat down. "What did you call me?"

Loki propped himself up on his elbows, looking at Tony. "I - I'm sorry?"

"You called me something in some other language as you came."

"Oh... yes."

"Well, what did you say?"

"It was earian, was it not?"

"Yeah, that. What's it mean?"

"It is... nothing."

"Really? Fine. You're an Earian."

Loki laughed. "The word is not a noun, it is a verb."

Tony frowned, confused.

"It was your victory."

"Victory for... what, exactly? Have others had a hard time making you come, or something?

Loki raised an eyebrow, and shook his head.

"Then..." Tony closed his eyes, and dropped his head in his hands. "Of course. Obviously. I -"

"You're tðjniniende," Loki interrupted.

"Why can't you speak English?"

Loki patted the space next to him, and Tony stood from the chair, and walked towards the bed. Loki sat up, and spread his legs, pulling Tony towards him. Tony stumbled, and fell down on top of him, causing Loki to make a heavy 'oof' sound as he fell back against the bed with Tony on top of him.

"That was completely your fault," Tony muttered.

"Earian means win. Tðjniniende is... amazing."

Understanding what everything meant, Tony grinned. "In order to amaze you, I have to be better than anything else on Asgard. I amazed you. I won. I'm the most amazing person on Asgard."

"Do not flatter yourself. I despise everyone on Asgard."

"Hey, not everyone. I'm on Asgard, too. Kind of."

"Yes, my point exactly."

Tony stuck his tongue out, and rolled off of Loki, laying beside him. "So, sleep?"

"I would love some."

Tony crawled up the bed, and motioned for Loki to join. With a heavy sigh, Loki made his way up the bed, claiming his place in Tony's arms, with his head on his chest, just beside the arc reactor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Þurhwerod, ælmiht cwémnes, Limnacod" - This roughly translates as 'very sweet, almighty, pleasure, Stark' - which is basically Loki just saying that he is very satisfied with Tony xD


	11. Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Both Tony's admit their feelings about being locked up with Loki... and they couldn't be more different.

**Earth:**

It had taken a bit longer than expected, but Tony had managed to disable somewhere around four hundred dead wires - all of which were two different colours. He had begun to assume that every white and blue wire were false; and maybe all of the live wires were another colour. It made sense; it'd make it easier for Doom to keep track of which was real and which wasn't.

With that theory in mind mixed with his boredom and exhaustion, he had given up on testing every single wire, and trusted that he was right, as he always was, and began cutting every white and blue wire. However, as he wrapped the wire cutters around another wire, he noticed something: a small tear in the cord, revealing the inner wires. He hesitated. He hadn't seen anything wrong with any other cords... was it just an accident that happened to one of the cords, or was it getting worn out?

Carefully, he retracted the wire cutters and set them down, grabbing the wire tester. He held it up to the wire, and alas: it was making nose, and glowing red. It was live. Tony took in a deep breath, and sighed. Finally, he was getting somewhere.

"Bruce?" he called out.

"Yeah?" Bruce replied from a few feet away.

"I need some red electrical tape."

A few moments later, Bruce leaned over the machine, handing some tape down to Tony, "did you find one?"

Tony looked up at him and nodded, grinning, as he accepted the tape.

"How many do you think there are?"

"At this rate, probably something shitty, like ten. It'll take longer now, too: my theory about colours is wrong."

Bruce sighed, "is there anything I can do?"

"No."

"You're  _allowed_ to have help, Tony."

"No."

Bruce rolled his eyes, and headed back to his chair a few feet away, waiting for Tony to accept his help.

Tony wrapped the red tape around the wire, marking it as live, so he would know not to ever cut it. Then, he sighed. "I have another tester in my lab. If you wanna go get it, you can give me a hand with these."

Bruce nodded, beginning to leave, "I'll be back soon, then."

"Bring back some cheeseburgers."

"Alright," Bruce chuckled.

By the time Bruce returned with another tester, Tony had disabled thirty more false wires, and had found two more live ones. He sat down beside Tony, setting the burgers down between them.

Tony smiled at him, and grabbed a burger, digging in. "I've found two more," he mustered out with his mouth full, gesturing to two more taped wires. "They might all be in one area," he shrugged, "but, I don't know."

Bruce nodded, and started munching on a burger of his own, "we've still got to check them all."

"Yeah, I know," he sighed. "It's going to take forever."

"You've already got it almost half done; it'll take no time with the both of us working on it. Don't worry, we'll get you back in one body, in no time," he smiled, assuringly.

"What if I do something? ...Bad?"

"You wouldn't do anything. You're still the same person there as you here: a good guy."

Tony slightly lifted up the corner of his mouth, "but he mind controls people. He's psychotic."

"He doesn't have his scepter to do that, anymore."

"He's still magic. What if he makes a potion or something?"

"I don't think Gods make potions," Bruce chuckled lightly, "that's more for witches. Trust me, Tony, it'll be okay. You're in a cell, there isn't much you could do, anyway."

Tony sighed, "we need to get a hold of Dr. Strange before we get this thing back up and running. I don't  _ever_  want to know what happened in Asgard. I'm probably hiding in a corner right now having the worst panic attack of my life..."

Bruce nodded, understandingly. "It might be good for Natasha to go. She's... good at convincing."

"I know," Tony made a face, then laughed. "I don't want her to know I'm in on this, yet, though. She'd kill me. And you. Then me, again."

"She won't be that mad. We just have to explain to her that you don't want to do anything unreasonable."

"You think we can get that many words out before she slits our throats?"

Bruce smiled, and lightly patted Tony's back, "I've got your back."

Tony gave him a thankful smile, and wiped his hands a napkin before getting back to work with Bruce.

When the sun had set, they had significantly lowered the amount of wires, to roughly two hundred.

"You can go back to the tower, if you want. Get some rest," Tony offered.

"No, I don't mind staying to help. At the rate we're going, we should be able to finish in no time."

"There's still a lot more work to do afterwards. You can go, you need your rest."

"It's not that late, yet. I'm fine."

"Fine, order some pizza."

Bruce paused, looking at Tony, "they wouldn't deliver  _here_ , would they?"

Tony grinned, "they would for their favourite customer."

Bruce nodded, and pulled out his phone, dialing the pizza place. He got half way through ordering an extra large pepperoni pizza, when Tony grabbed the phone.

"Hey, like Bruce said, we need an extra large pepperoni pizza, and I will tip you one hundred dollars to bring a six pack of beer down with you."

"U-um... Well, we're really not supposed to do that..." the man on the other end of the phone responded.

"Three hundred?"

There was a pause. "I, yeah, I guess I can do that."

Tony smiled, and handed the phone to Bruce to give directions to the kid, focusing on the wires, again.

"The thirty minute rule doesn't apply to us," Bruce chuckled when he hung up.

"Worth it," Tony grinned.

"So, after we cut all the wires... We should talk to Natasha."

"No."

"We have to do if sooner than later."

"We're not as close to being done as you think. See, these wires are live," he gestured to the wires covered in red tape, "but I'm sure as hell that a lot of them are hooked to blow up if we press the wrong button. I'll have to study this and figure out what buttons  _have_  to be pressed, and which don't - then we'll have to try to disable the buttons we don't need. A lot of them will probably want to relay, so we'll have to be extra careful and disable them manually."

Bruce stared at him for a few long moments. "Have you ever done anything like this?"

Tony shrugged, "well... I used to build weapons. I know how to do it."

"I think we should we be calling in some bomb defusers."

"No, they'd want to disable this entire machine... I can't let that happen, yet. Trust me, I can do this. I've already been able to get a few good looks, I have some ideas, I just need a few more days."

Bruce sighed, "okay... but you know, we should give Natasha a couple of days notice to convince Dr. Strange."

Tony groaned and laid back on the ground. "Fine. You win. Tomorrow morning... we'll talk to her."

"You're doing the right thing."

"Yeah, hard not to with you all over me."

"I'm only trying to help."

"I know, and I, uh, appreciate it."

"Come on, let's work while we still can."

Tony nodded, sitting up. He grabbed his wire testers, and began testing the wires, again.

"Hello?" a voice asked.

Tony dropped his tools and jumped to his feet to greet the pizza man. He grinned, and pulled his wallet out, grabbing all the cash he had. "I've only got two seventy," he frowned. "Bill me the extra whatever on my next order?"

The man nodded, accepting the money as he set the beer case on the ground, "sure." He stuffed the money in his pocket and held the pizza out.

"Uh, no, set it on the... err, Bruce."

"On the Bruce?" Bruce repeated.

Tony shrugged as the pizza man walked over to Bruce, handing him the pizza.

"Thanks," Bruce smiled, accepting the pizza.

"Thank  _you,_ " the pizza man said, taking his leave.

Tony grabbed a beer bottle and opened it, while Bruce opened the pizza and grabbed a slice. "Cheers," Tony grinned, taking a large swig.

" _What_  is going on here?"

Tony groaned, rolling over. He sat up, and squinted through the sunlight, staring at Natasha and Thor. "What...? Oh, shit. Bruce?"

Bruce waved his arm in the air dismissively and put his arm over his head, blocking out the sunlight.

"Tony, why are you here?"

"I'm working with Bruce to bring me back. Can I have some coffee?"

"Man of Iron, you know about your situation?"

Tony nodded, "you can't use my computer against me," he shrugged.

"You can't be here," Natasha urged.

"You  _need_  me, and I  _don't_  want to do anything you think I do, I can promise you that."

Bruce slowly removed his arm from his head, and turned to face his friends. "It's true," he muttered with his groggy voice.

Natasha stared, awaiting an explanation.

"He hates the idea of being in Asgard, with the possibility of Loki do something to him. He's been working non-stop to fix this machine and get himself back."

Natasha stared at Tony, then glanced up at Thor for his opinion.

"I think having the Man of Iron help would be very helpful," Thor nodded.

Natasha sighed, "okay. I'll trust you. What have you got done so far?" She walked around the machine, taking a look at the back where all of the wires were.

"Complicated. Need coffee."

"Fine. We'll go get coffee, but we need to discuss what you have and still need to do, on the way there," Natasha stated.

"Fine," Tony agreed.

Natasha extended her hand out, offering to help Tony to his feet. Tony gladly accepted while Thor helped Bruce to his feet. They began walking down to Natasha's car, and on the way out, Natasha took Bruce to the side. "You're sure he's okay?"

"I'm sure," Tony answered, overhearing. "If you were the one who had a duplicate of yourself stuck with him, you'd want to do everything you could to bring yourself back, right?"

Natasha nodded.

"I don't want to be there. I need to get me back safe and sound, as soon as I can... and trust me, I don't want to remember  _anything_."

 

**Meanwhile, on Asgard:**

"Good morning," a voice greeted.

Tony groaned, rolling over - falling of the bed. "Agh," he tiredly muttered. He grabbed the pillow that fell down with him, and positioned it comfortably under his head.

"Mother!" Loki gasped, jumping out of bed, standing over Tony with the blankets.

"I hope I have not come... too early," Frigga smiled.

Tony looked up and glanced into the hallway: the lights were all on. Somehow, he and Loki had slept in.

"What time is it?" Loki inquired.

"It is nearly midday."

"Midday? How is that possible?"

"Perhaps good company makes for good sleep?" Frigga suggested.

"He's not exactly good company to sleep with," Tony objected, getting up off the floor, and sitting on the bed. "He takes up a lot of room, and he constantly yells at me."

"In his sleep?"

Tony nodded, "he gets hot easily."

Frigga gave Loki a pointed look, and he shrugged in response.

"How has Asgard been?" Loki asked without a shred of interest, as he sat down at the table.

"I have not been able to visit, for reasons other than tending to Asgard."

Loki raised an eyebrow as he opened the bathroom for Tony.

Knowing that Loki's actions were more than just kindness, he got up and headed into the bathroom without a word.

"What reason do you have?" Loki questioned, hiding the door, again.

"I have seen the future."

"Has it come and gone?"

"The most important event has."

"What was it?"

"I sha'nt tell you..."

"Why not?"

"I will tell you when it is all over."

"Why am I not allowed to know? My knowledge on it cannot possibly refrain it from happening; it would not have anything to do with me."

Frigga smiled, setting her hand on her son's shoulder, "may I suggest bringing the door back? I do not imagine it is good for his nerves."

Loki's eyes narrowed as he brought the door back, staring at her. "Why have you returned? At midday? You always visit in the morning."

Tony walked through the door, rubbing his eyes, as he silently made his way back to the bed.

"Your food had come and gone, left untouched. I wished to make sure you were both doing well."

Loki nodded, thoughtfully.

"Are you hungry?"

"Starving," Tony answered.

Figga smiled, and pulled two plates out of thin air. "Here," she set them down on the table. "I should be going. Take care of each other."

"What does that mean?" Loki asked.

"Stop thinking and eat," Tony muttered, sitting down at the table, stabbing his eggs with his fork.

Loki grimaced, staring at Frigga. "Mother, I must know what you have fore-"

"Shh. You will see, too, in due time."

Loki sighed, watching as she disappeared, leaving him alone, again.

"Seen?" Tony asked with his mouth full.

Loki frowned in confusion and turned to face Tony, "excuse me?"

"You must know what she has fore...seen?" he guessed, imitating the way Loki spoke.

Loki's frowned deepened, "I talk nothing like that."

"You talk  _just_  like that."

"That is closer to Thor - and not even he speaks like that."

"No, because Thor is like this..." Tony trailed off, shoving the rest of his food in his mouth, before standing up and smashing his plate on the ground, shattering it. "Another!" Tony yelled, deepening his voice as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "I must celebrate this feast with my magic hammer!  _Brother_! Where are mother's drapes?! I must wear them and speak like Shakespear!"

Loki stared at Tony for a few moments, before bursting into laughter, and Tony grinned, satisfied with himself.

Continuing his laughing, Loki had to sit down; trying to catch his breath. "That... was  _spot on_."

Tony shrugged, "I heard about the smashing thing from his girlfriend."

Loki chuckled a few more times, before grabbing a glass of water, drinking the entire thing.

"You know, I never really thought about what a God laughing would sound like... I heard Thor's and it was more like a drunk Viking than a God."

"What purpose is there in telling me this?"

"You laugh, is... I mean, you laugh like a God."

"I  _am_  a God."

"I can tell."

Loki cocked his head to the side, questioningly.

"From what I've heard," Tony began, trying to explain himself, "if God did exist - which he doesn't - everything he does is supposed to be perfect, right?"

Loki slowly nodded.

"Err..." Tony frowned, scratching the back of his head, "I think what I'm trying to say is that your laugh is beautiful."

"You think," Loki repeated.

Tony nodded.

" _I_ think you almost called me perfect," Loki stated as he stood, walking closer to Tony.

"I misworded that. I only meant beautiful," Tony breathed, matching each of Loki's steps forward, with a step back, until he was against the wall. "Perfection... doesn't exist."

"And they call you a genius?" Loki smirked, standing in font of Tony, looking down at him.

"I  _am_  a genius."

"Then tell me... what happens next?"

What happens next? They kiss, that's what. But something was different this time. Loki's breath was accelerating and Tony could feel his own heart pounding in his chest. There was tension between them and it was more intense than anything before.

Without another thought, Tony jumped to his tippy toes and closed the distance between them - and he could  _feel_  it. He could feel what was different through the kiss, and he  _loved_  it. It felt as glorious as winning a thousand battles all at once; as electrifying as a million fireworks going off; as breathtaking as drowning underwater. He couldn't make sense of what he felt, and that was exactly what made it so right.

When air became an inconveniencing necessity, they pulled away, staring into each other's eyes.

"I have a problem," Tony whispered.

"Hmm?" Loki questioned, only half paying attention as he gazed at him, playing with Tony's hair.

"I really don't want to leave."


	12. Words Unspoken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Loki leave things left unsaid, for better or for worse.  
> Meanwhile on Earth, Tony creates a hologram to help him fix Doom's machine more efficiently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ♫ Drench yourself in words unspoken; today is where your book begins, the rest is still unwritten ♪

"I..." was all Loki said before he froze; standing still and expressionless, staring down at Tony with his fingers still tangled in his hair. Tony's confession has caught him off guard, and he could tell that Tony  _meant_  it - he really didn't want to leave, and that was what was so worrisome.

Slowly, he slithered his fingers out of Tony's hair, and dropped his arms at his sides. "You do not wish to go home?" he finally asked.

Tony himself took a few moments to answer; unsure about how Loki felt about that. Perhaps opening his mouth was a bad idea... Still, he liked it in Asgard. Even if he was locked up in a cell, he wasn't a prisoner. Prisoners didn't get their own shower times, or brought meals from the Queen. It was like he was in his own secluded part of Asgard, where it was just him and Loki and no one else to bother them. It was... nice; even if he didn't exactly have freedom.

He was so used to everyone being in on his life all the time, the solitude and privacy was incredibly appreciated. So, even if it was the wrong thing to say, he was going to say it. "No. I don't." When the words left his mouth, he was left not knowing if he was just admitting his feelings, or implying that he wanted Loki's help on finding a way to stay... but, he didn't necessarily care; either way fine with him. He wouldn't mind staying, and he knew that if anything could be done, it could be done by Loki. If he couldn't, at least Loki knew.

Loki took in a deep breath, running his fingers through his own hair, processing the new information. He could think of a few different ways that might allow Tony to stay, and he could think of countless ways that they could escape and be somewhere more enjoyable. He had thought about the subject once or twice before... but he could never allow it to happen. "Why?" he frowned. "You have a life to go back to, and  _live_."

"I know, and I do miss it; I miss flying in my suit, and pizza, and everyone screaming my name, begging for my attention, and my lab, and JARVIS... There's a lot of things I miss, but at the same time, it's nice to have a break from it. Y'know? I've never had a calm life where I don't have to do anything. I like it. Besides, you're all magical; you could make a pizza if you wanted, right? I won't be missing out on  _that_  much."

Loki narrowed his eyes. "You know full well that I must be careful with my magic."

"We can be. Pizza night can be once every month; we'll cherish it."

"As you should your time here. Once you stay here for too long, you will grow tired of it, and will want nothing more than your old life. When you have that back, you will feel for it as you do for here, now."

Tony frowned; beginning to fill with anxiety. "What... are you saying, exactly?"

"You cannot stay here."

"Why not? Don't tell me you don't want me to. I mean, who else is going to amaze you in the showers? It's not as satisfying by yourself, and it can't be easy, what with your hands being all chained... though, I guess you could do it here, but you've got all these other pris-"

" _Stark_ ," Loki muttered, interrupting his babbling.

"Right. Not the point. Sorry."

"Your friends - that you should nor forget or abandon - are working to bring you back to them. It is only a matter of time before they succeed in doing so. It has been a while, already."

"If there's still a me on Earth, why do I have to go back? I'll cease to exist."

"You will still exist, you'll just.." he trailed off, rubbing his temples. "You  _belong_  there,  _not_  in Asgard."

"But I like it,  _here_."

"That doesn't matter."

"Yes, it does," Tony argued, frowning. "This is my life, shouldn't it be my choice?"

"It  _is_  your choice. You, as in the  _real_  you, on Midgard."

"That me doesn't know what  _I_  want!"

"He is a genius and knows what's best," Loki muttered, heading over to his chair and sitting down, hoping to end the conversation.

Tony stared at him in disbelief. "So, you'd just have me leave? You know I won't be able to return, right? If the Avengers knew what we..." he trailed off, pausing. "They'd never let me see you, again."

Loki nodded.

"But..."

Loki looked at him with unusually sad eyes. "Was returning not the plan, all along?"

"That was before."

"Before  _what_ , Stark?"

Tony groaned. "What is your issue, here? Pride? That you're involved with a 'mortal'? Just, stop it. I  _know_  you don't mean what you're saying."

"If you think being so involved with you was hurting my pride,  _why_ , pray tell, would I sleep with you every night, for the others and my mother to see?"

"Because..." Tony trailed off, shifting his weight and crossing his arms. "I don't know, you're an idiot?"

Loki gave him a weird look.

"So, answer my question. If it's not pride, what is it?"

"We are not having this discussion."

"So, you are an idiot," he muttered. "You can cast a spell on me, or something to make it so I  _can't_  leave," he continued. "Break the portal, I don't know, you're smart, you can think of something that'll work."

"I refuse to take and ruin your life by imprisoning you to be stuck with me forever!" Loki nearly yelled.

Tony stared at him, blinking. "... You think that would  _ruin_  my life?"

"Do not dare say otherwise," Loki warned.

Tony opened his mouth to argue, but paused. Loki's tone sounded moreso like he was trying to convince  _himself_  more than Tony. "You're wr-"

"It is your life, and your choice," Loki repeated Tony's earlier words, agreeing as he turned away; hiding his face. "And this is my cell, and I... eagerly await it's emptiness."

Tony froze, and his heart dropped. He had never felt more stupid in his life - and considering who his father was, that really said something. He was hurt - surprisingly hurt. He had just been... flat out rejected. He never got rejected. Ever. The first to reject him was a God, and  _that_  was  _extremely_  ego-damaging.

If Loki was so eager for Tony to leave, then... what did everything that happened between them mean? Had Loki just been using him for his own pleasure, and security? And Tony - the man who didn't do 'talking' or 'feelings,' just blurted out his one-sided feeling about how much he didn't want to go, and tried to get Loki to let him stay. He was stupid. Unbelievably stupid - and foolish. Foolish enough to actually -

"Enough has already been done..." Loki murmured, bringing Tony out of his thoughts. "We will not speak to each other for the remainder of the time you are here. Forget what you said. Forget that you meant it."

"But -"

Suddenly, everything fell silent. Tony's mouth moved, but no words came out. Sound, was gone.

Three days had come and gone.

Tony and Loki didn't eat together, sleep together, shower near each other, or even look at each other - except for a few occasional glances, until the other met the gaze and they both looked away to continue ignoring each other's existence.

The silence spell that Loki had cast was still going strong. Inside the cell, nothing could be heard; not footsteps, the ruffling of the blankets on the bed, glass breaking (which Tony only did to experiment whether or not  _everything_  was muted), or even their own heartbeats. It was driving Tony mad, though Loki appeared to be absolutely fine.

The only time there was sound was in the showers. In there, the sound of the running water and everything else seemed so agonizingly loud, Tony wouldn't dare add to it by speaking. Even if the noise wasn't an issue, he wouldn't know what to say.

On their next shower day, Tony spent the entire time debating on whether or not to speak to Loki. He wanted to say 'hi' and try to just start all over, but he knew the chances of that were slim. Too much had happened, and he knew that Loki was... well, he actually had no idea what Loki was. He had no reason to be angry, hurt, or anything of the like, though he clearly wasn't happy. Perhaps he was just being honest; showing his true intentions and feelings.

Tony sighed, deciding to keep his mouth shut, but he glanced over at Loki, just to see him.

The familiar sounds of keys being shoved in a lock signalized that their time was up, and Loki looked over towards Tony, meeting his gaze. He held it longer than he normally would; only looking away when the guards shoved him out of the door, taking him back to the cell.

Since Loki was ahead and couldn't see what Tony was doing, he continued staring as they walked down the hallway. Tony almost thought Loki looked... disappointed? Why? For not speaking? No, that'd be stupid. Loki was just as capable as speaking as Tony was. Though, they both did have their reasons for their silence, and the likeliness of them counting on the other to break it first was pretty high, as it was just something they were stubborn enough to do.

When they got back to the cell, Tony headed for the chair, wordlessly giving up the bed for the night. Loki paused, standing in the middle of the cell, looking at Tony as if he was about to argue, but just a second later, he took the bed and laid down. He used his magic to summon a book to read, while Tony let out an inaudible sigh and swung her legs across the arm rest, trying to get as comfy as he could.

 

**Back on Earth:**

Over the coarse of three days, Tony had scanned Doom's machine, and created a holographic duplicate. He programmed it so if he disposed of one of the wires that were live, the machine would make a sizzling noise, symbolizing that the real machine would blow up. All of that took a whole day, mostly because he kept getting interrupted by people abusing their privilege to have a code to get into Tony's lab. He was brought countless cups of coffee and a bunch of unwanted advice about needing some rest, while others came to 'just visit,' or to try to flat out drag him out. It got to the point where he told JARVIS to override every code and temporarily disable them all until he said otherwise. Of course that only made the Avengers knock on the door, so he put up curtains, and began blasting his music near the door to ensure he wouldn't be distracted anymore. He was determined to finish his project as soon as possible, and they should know that, that meant he was going to do just that.

When he was finally without any disturbances, he began studying the machine, starting with the control panel. He needed to figure out what  _had_  to be pressed to make the machine to do what he needed. There was a simple 'on' button on the very font that looked  _too_  simple... but there were no other buttons to turn the machine on or off, so Tony was led to believe that it had to be legit... but he had to test it out, so, he pressed it.

_Sizzle._

"Congratulations, Sir," JARVIS said. "You have just successfully killed yourself."

Tony frowned. "That was the ' _on_ ' button. How else are you supposed to turn it on?"

"Might I suggest the red button  _underneath_  the control panel?"

"The... what?" he crouched down, looking underneath the control panel, and rolled his eyes at the red button just sitting there. He pressed it, and nothing happened. It was safe. "Highlight the wire connecting to that false wire."

As requested, JARVIS highlighted it, and Tony pulled it out of it's socket, crumpled it up and threw it in his basketball net recycling bin. "So, that's garbage."

"Would you like my assistance, yet?"

"No.  _I_  have to do this," Tony muttered, continuing his work.

The machine was pretty basic: turn it on, choose the portal setting, set a target, adjust the power levels, and go. So, he highlighted all of the others buttons, which he was certain he didn't need, and told JARVIS to highlight all of the wires connecting to them, and he pulled them out, throwing them out, then stared at the machine, waiting. When no sizzle came, he sighed in relief.

The machine was left looking pretty empty, but it looked safe, and that was what mattered.

Content with the work he'd done, he decided to get an hour or two of rest before he went out to work on the real thing. He didn't want to end up doing the wrong thing because he was tired, and blowing it up. That would be... stupid.

He still wasn't feeling up to being social, so he muted JARVIS and hopped in his nearest car, reclining his seat, and closing his eyes.

When he woke, the first thing he did was look at his watch; it was past five in the afternoon. He wasn't sure when he went to bed, but he knew he slept longer than intended. He shook his head in disbelief, "I... guess I needed that."

He yawned, and stretched, slowly getting out of the car, and made his way over to his suit. He put it on, and immediately began flying down to Doom's machine, stopping at Burger King on the way there, because he wanted a cheeseburger.

When he got there, he had JARVIS send a 3D file of the hologram to his suit, and he began working on disabling the same wires as before. Naturally it took a bit longer; he was hesitant with each wire he disabled, and wanted to make sure he wasn't going to make any mistakes. He couldn't afford them.

By the time he was finished, it seemed to look more empty than it did in his workshop, but that was probably only because it wasn't a hologram - and it was dark out. His hesitation really took up a lot of time...

With nothing else to do, he headed back to the tower to get some of the pizza he refused from Steve, earlier.

When he landed on his catwalk and his armour was being taken off, he spoke to JARVIS, "JARVIS, wake Natasha up when the sun rises... tell her I've finished, and end her off to se Doctor Strange."

"Of course, Sir."

Tony nodded to himself, grabbing a glass of scotch before anything else.

"Hey," Pepper's voice greeted, followed by arms being slid around his waist from behind. "It's good to see you up and about."

"Hey," he replied, lifting the corner of his mouth into a sloppy smile, turning to face her with his drink in hand..

"How's the machine coming?"

"I've got it all ready."

"Already? That's great! I knew you could do it!" she lightly tightened her arms around him, giving him a gentle squeeze.

He nodded, taking a sip from his glass, filling his mouth with scotch so he didn't have to reply.

"So... do you want to go out for dinner? I was thinking Chinese."

"I would  _love_  Chinese food..." he frowned, "but, I still have a lot of work to do."

The sparkle in her eyes dimmed, and her face fell. She smiled sadly, yet understandingly. "That's fine. Next time."

He nodded, saying nothing as he watched her leave. He felt awful for lying. He had no work, but he just couldn't stop avoiding her. It just wasn't the same between them, anymore; they didn't click like they used to, and he didn't know how to talk to her about it.

He still loved her, yes, of course, but he wasn't  _in love_  with her. He knew she wasn't, either. She was trying, though; sticking with him when he needed support... she didn't deserve to be let go of when she was doing  _so much_... but she didn't deserve to be led on, either.

He groaned, and finished his glass, before grabbing the box of pizza from the fridge, and heading down to his lab to sit in his car and watch AC/DC music videos on his computer to pass the time. It was all a matter of hours before things were back as they should be.


	13. Back Down the Rabbit Hole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark fell through a portal,  
> Tony Stark had a great journey,  
> All the Avengers,  
> and even himself,  
> helped to put Tony together again.
> 
>  
> 
> {Sorry, apparently I now really like to make a reference to something in my titles/summaries. xD}

Sometime after watching a few music videos, Tony fell asleep - only to be awoken by JARVIS soon after. "Sir, Miss. Romanoff has returned with Dr. Strange."

Tony sat up and his eyes flew open, lighting up. He tried to get out of his car so fast, he got his foot caught, and fell on the ground. He huffed his breath at his own clumsiness, and got up more slowly and carefully - though when he got to the stairs, he skipped every other step, too eager to greet Natasha and Dr. Strange.

In the livingroom, Natasha stood in the center of the room with her arms crossed, facing the doorway; awaiting Tony. "He has one condition," she told him, as soon as he entered.

He stopped in the doorway and looked past her, out the window. The sun hadn't yet risen above head; it wasn't even noon. He underestimated her. "No," he replied, shaking his head. "No conditions. He either does this, or he doesn't."

"Now, that's hardly fair," Strange said, walking into the room, "considering all you are asking of me. You have not even heard my condition, yet."

Without a word, Natasha walked past Tony, leaving the two of them to talk.

"What do you want?"

"I would only like to know _why_  you want your memories to be erased."

"Why? Fine; because this is  _Loki_ we're talking about. What more needs to be said? He's a psychopath, and he's probably torturing the hell out of me right now. Who would  _want_  to remember anything?"

"I've heard that you two have gotten to be quite close."

"Close?  _Right_. You mean like him mind controlling and putting a spell on me? Probably using me as a lab rat to test out a bunch of spells and potions on. See, the thing is, I can't die in Asgard. I have to live through that torture, which, is kind of  _worse_  than death."

"Now, Stark, that's a bit harsh for not knowing exactly what is going -"

"I know enough. I know who he is."

"And one cannot change?"

"Not him. Are you going to help or not?" Tony questioned, getting impatient. "You can't change my mind."

"I... will. When are we doing this?"

"Are you available right now?"

"If I wasn't, I wouldn't be here."

"Good. Let's go." He grabbed his Colantotte bracelets and put them on, ordering his suit to come to him. "Avengers, Assemble," he said as his faceplate snapped shut. Alongside Dr. Strange, he took off, heading off for the machine.

They were the first ones there. Naturally.

When Dr. Strange landed, he walked over to the machine, and began observing it, hmming and ahhing.

"Don't touch  _anything_ ," Tony warned.

"Oh, I won't. I am only admiring."

Tony took in a deep breath, and began pacing, keeping his eye on Strange. Finally, it was happening. He could get himself back, out of Asgard, and have everything back to normal, the way things were; the way things  _should_  be.

Within minutes, the rest of the Avengers gathered around the machine, in uniform, ready to do whatever Tony needed. "Avengers," Tony began, "this is going to cause a  _huge_  blackout, just like last time. I need you all to secure the perimeter and ensure that  _no one_ tries to interfere and stop us - and call Rhodey, tell him to keep the sky clear. I don't want to take any risks with anyone else falling into this stupid portal."

The Avengers began disassembling, and Tony quickly grabbed Bruce's arm before he could leave. "Wait, I'll need you here, just in case. You worked with me, you know the machine, you can fix it if anything happens."

Bruce nodded, staying by Tony's side, as the others left to do as instructed.

"Alright, Strange, let's hear with how you're going to do this," Tony said, giving him the floor.

"Yes, let's. Well, you are going to start up this magnificent machine, and as your... duplicate comes through the portal, I will wipe his mind, and he will be conjoined with you. None of his memories will be there. It will just be you."

Tony nodded. "You'll be sure to get him in time?"

"I do not fail."

"What if the  _machine_  fails?"

"As long as you can open the portal, your you will be bought here. The worst-case scenario is that you remember."

"Okay." Tony took in a deep breath, and stepped towards the machine. Every moment he got closer to having himself back to once piece, he got a bigger knot in his stomach. He couldn't help but feel like something awful was going to happen.

He pressed the big red button at the bottom of the control panel, and glanced over at Bruce, who gave an encouraging nod. The engine started roaring, and everything began lighting up. So far, so good.

He set the machine to go in reverse, and slowly turned the dials to open to portal, gradually giving it more power. All around them, the city began going black, signalizing that the machine was working as it should.

"It's working," he breathed out, staring up at the opening portal in slight disbelief. "It's really working," he smiled, giving it full power.

**Back in Asgard,**

Tony was laying sideways on the chair, unable to sleep. He had a certain knot in his stomach that was making him uncomfortable, mentally and physically. It was the same kind of knot that he got when he fell through the portal the first time. He kept trying to tell himself it was nothing, perhaps that was denial, but deep down he did know that something had to be going on with the portal back on Earth.

He thought he had heard something coming from behind him, but, that was impossible, so he dismissed it. If it was anything, it was him finally losing his sanity. Suddenly Frigga stepped in front of him. He jumped, muttering an audible "shit." He froze upon hearing his own voice.

She smiled, "hello, again, Tony Stark."

Tony sat up normally to glance over at Loki, then looked back at Frigga, "I don't think he'll be happy that you just ended his spell."

"All is well, he will not know. His ears are still mute."

"How can you...?"

"I taught him everything he knows, but not everything  _I_  know."

Tony grinned. "But, why are you here? It's the middle of the night, sometime, right?"

"Now is the opportune time for me to visit  _you_."

"Me? What do you want me for?"

"I... am curious about what happened between you two."

Tony sighed, and stood up to begin pacing. After a couple of minutes, he finally answered, "nothing happened."

Frigga sat down at the table, gesturing for Tony to join her.

"I don't really..." he crinkled his nose and shook his head. "I don't do that whole talking thing, anymore. Tried it, once; it backfired."

"I am a mother. I can help," she smiled, assuringly.

He sighed in defeat, and sat down across from her. "Did he ever come to you for help?"

"He  _always_  used to."

"Why doesn't he, anymore?"

"He lost himself."

Tony glanced over at Loki, looking at him sympathetically. He didn't want to care, but he did; he wanted to try to help Loki find himself, again. Even if he couldn't actually do anything, he at least wanted to let him know he wasn't alone. He rolled his eyes. All of his sappy feelings were almost disgusting him.

"So, about  _you_  two. What happened?"

He frowned, resting his chin in his hands, giving his attention back to her. "I told him I didn't want to leave."

"And?"

"Well, he kind of killed sound."

"Why would he do that?"

"He said he's eagerly awaiting his cell's emptiness. He wants me gone. Guess he figured that since we disagree... we shouldn't speak."

"That sounds... just like him," she sighed, letting out a small chuckle.

"Yeah? It's a pain in the as - er, butt."

Frigga smiled, standing up. "I do hope you two sort this out."

"Wait!" Tony jumped out, reaching an arm out to her before she could try to leave, "is that all you came for? That's kind of... nosy."

"I would help, if I could. I am afraid I can do less than I thought. This is only between the two of you."

"Is this about what you saw?"

"Why do you think that?"

"Back on Earth, I'm one of the smartest people, if not  _the_  smartest."

Frigga nodded, not saying anything in response.

"Can I know what you saw?"

"No, I cannot say."

"Come on, what can I do? I'm just some mortal in a land of 'gods'."

"You have more power than you give yourself credit, Anthony Stark."

"What does that mean?"

"You will see."

"Oh, come on," Tony whined. "You gods and your little riddles. Gimme a straight answer. Please. Even just a hint?"

Frigga bit her lip, looking conflicted about whether or not to say anything more. She wasn't supposed to share her visions, but she feared the consequences if she remained entirely silent. "You, and my son, Loki, you two have... become closer."

"Yes?"

"That is what I saw."

"That's not  _all_  you saw. You said there was more to happen."

"You are very smart."

"And you're changing the subject."

"I have seen your ending."

Tony froze. "How... How do we end?"

"That is up for you two to decide."

Tony frowned, looking down at the ground.

Frigga sighed. "My son was unhappy, long before his... breakdown," she glanced at Loki, with sadness in her eyes. "As time passed, it worsened." She looked back at Tony, smiling, "since you arrived, he has been..."  
"If you say he's been better, the first thing I'm going to ask is how Asgard is still standing. Have you  _seen_  his temper?"  
Frigga let out a soft laugh. "You may not see it, but he has been happier."

"Well don't blame me,  _I_  haven't done anything. He basically hates me."

She gave him a pointed look. "He does not hate you."

"Then what would you call that?" he pointed at Loki.

"What anyone would, of couse."

Tony frowned, "and what's that?"

She smiled, "you will find out."

He nodded, "I think I understand. Thanks... I think. Just one more question."

"Yes?"

"Why... tell me this? Why help me?"

She simply smiled and wrapped her arms around him in a quick embrace. Before he could react, she was gone, and the room fell silent, again. He inaudibly sighed, and decided to head back to his chair to try to get to sleep.

No matter how many hours passed, he couldn't sleep.

Throughout the undying silence, his thoughts were extremely loud, and kept him awake.

He kept thinking about what Frigga said. He couldn't stop his mind from wondering if when she said she saw him and Loki get closer, if that meant she saw them having sex. He felt his face turn red at the thought, and he turned his thoughts to the rest of the conversation, which just left him more confused than before, which is when he went back over his conversation with Loki for the thousandth time, trying to figure out what everything Loki did meant. His tone, the look in his eyes, his facial expressions, his body language... What he  _said_  didn't correspond with it all. If Loki truly didn't give a damn about him, why didn't it seem that way? Why was he having such a hard time  _showing_  that he didn't care?

There was only one way to get his answers, and that was to talk to Loki. So, he swallowed the remnants of his pride, and got up off of his chair to sit on the edge of the bed and nudge Loki awake.

With an evil look in his eyes, Loki rolled over, glaring at him.

'Break your spell,' Tony mouthed.

Loki turned his head to shake his head, but stopped midway. He rolled his eyes, and a moment later, muttered "what?"

"I need you to tell me something. Honestly."

" _What_?"

"What  _exactly_  are your feelings towards me?"

"Right now, I find you to be quite annoying; nothing less. Was it really necessary to wake me up, just for that? It is the middle of the night."

"If you didn't want to talk, why'd you allow me to?"

"Would you have left me alone if I didn't?"

"Tell me to go away and I will - _if_  you really mean it."

Loki didn't respond.

Tony slightly lifted the corner of his mouth. "So, you know where I stand," he continued, "stop being complicated and just tell me where you stand."

Loki stared at him for a few long moments. "Go back to bed, I want my rest. We will talk in the morning."

Tony considered leaving him alone, but quickly decided not to give up. The knot in his stomach was growing, giving him the feeling that time was very valuable, and if he had to choose how they was going to end, he was going to make damn sure it was a good ending. "No. I'm not going anywhere, not until you answer me. I  _have_  to know this."

"Why is it so important to you? Why must you know  _now_?"

"Because, I -" he cut himself off, pausing. "I just do."

"Fine," Loki muttered, letting out a small sigh; staring up at the ceiling. "You are... erm... good company," he spoke slowly; uncertainly.

"Is that all?"

"You..." he looked over at Tony, and gave up, giving in. "You are...  _so much_ ," he whispered.

"How much?"

Loki pulled Tony down to him, kissing him gently and passionately, allowing him to feel just how much Tony meant to him.

Tony pulled away after a few moments, with a conflicted expression, and laid down next to Loki, staring up at the ceiling, trying to make sense of what he felt, and what was going on between them. "But I can't stay?" he asked after a while.

"No. You can't."

"Well, I  _can_. You just  _won't_  let me. Why?"

Loki sighed, "I just can't. Let it go."

"I can't let  _you_  go."

"Anthony," Loki groaned. " _Please_. Do not make this harder than it is."

"You haven't even told me why," he grumbled.

"I owe you no explanation."

"Come on," Tony rolled his eyes, "you  _can't_  have  _that_  big of an ego. Mine eats everyone's, and I'm still willing to say that I want -"

Loki raised an eyebrow, glaring at him. "You still think this is the work of my ego?" he interrupted.

"Well, you won't give me any other answer."

"I do not  _want_  you to stay. It is that simple. If I wanted you to stay I would have no problem in saying that."

"Wouldn't you?"

"Believe me, if I wanted you here, I would have you here. I always get what I want."

"Prove it. Try."

" _No_."

" _Ugh_ ," Tony groaned, getting up off the bed. "I don't know why I ever bothered talking to you in the first place. You're so stubborn, I should have known that you were only going to be a pain in my ass."

" _I_  am stubborn? You are more high maintenance than any other being I have ever met!"

"I am  _not_  high maintenance! Try looking at yourself! Your mood changes faster than woman's I've ever met, and trust me, I've met  _a lot_  of women."

"Oh, I don't doubt that you have."

"What is  _that_  supposed to mean?"

"I think you know full well what it means."

Tony narrowed his eyes, glaring at him. "Fine. Forget you, I don't want to stay."

Loki's face fell for half a second, before he grinned, "good. Makes things easier."

Tony stared at him, saying nothing. He went back on the bed, and leaned towards Loki, staring at him, up close.

Frowned, Loki leaned back, giving Tony a confused look.

"Why are you doing that?"

"Doing  _what_?"

"Are you lying, again?"

"What would I gain from lying?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's just a habit, or, you know... your  _ego_  is too big for the tru-"

Loki shoved Tony back, away from him. "I am beginning to hate you."

"Five minutes after you kissed me."

Loki huffed, and Tony raised an eyebrow.

"You really are a good liar," Tony murmured. "I don't know what to believe."

Loki nodded, and lifted the corner of his mouth up into a broken half-smile. "Practice."

"God, you're irritating."

"I suppose after all of the time I've unwillingly spent with you, I picked up on your habits."

Tony snorted, "that has always been  _your_  thing."

"That is  _highly_ doubtful."

"God dammit, just tell me why I can't stay!"

"Because I care about you too much to let you ruin your life!"

Tony froze, staring at him in shock. " _Ruin_  my life? You don't actually think...?" he trailed off.

"I do not need to  _think_. I  _know_."

"You're wrong," Tony whispered. "I want to stay because I like it here, I like it with you.  _I_  know that it could never 'ruin my life,' and if it turns out to be a mistake, then fine, I'll learn from it, but I'll never regret it; I'll never regret choosing to be with you."

Loki slowly shook his head. "I do hate you," he murmured. "I hate you because I want you, so much."

Tony started at him, just listening because he didn't know what else to say.

"But I do not hate you enough to keep you here. Trust me, Anthony, when I say that I know this topic better than you. If I kept you, you'd learn to resent it here; you'd resent  _me_."

"I'd nev -" Tony paused, when a small light appeared from the other side of the room. He gasped, staring wide-eyed at the portal that was beginning to open.

Loki glanced at the portal, then at Tony. "You knew..."

The next second, the portal was fully opened, sucking Tony back in. "No!" he yelled, tightly wrapping his arms around Loki. Instinctively, Loki's arms immediately wrapped themselves around Tony, just as tightly. He wasn't ready to lose him. Not yet. Not completely.

They were dragged from the bed; Tony being pulled towards the portal by his feet, horizontal in the air, with Loki trying to backtrack against the strength of the portal. When they were finally forced towards the wall, with Tony half inside the portal, Loki put his feet up on the wall on both sides of the portal, trying to hold onto Tony and pull him out. "Don't...  _don't_  leave me."

" _Now_ you want me to stay?!  _Impeccable_  timing, you god damn idiot!"

"I thought we had more time!" he yelled defensively. "Anthony, listen to me, I -"

Tony interrupted him, pulling Loki closer towards himself, crashing their lips together just once more, for a few short seconds, before he was completely pulled back into the portal, disappearing.

As soon as the portal was closed and gone, Loki fell to his knees, running his hand down the wall where Tony was moments ago. "Don't leave me," he whispered with a cracked voice, as a tear fell from his face. "Don't leave me all alone, again..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda short, but, eventful. ^^
> 
> (Happy 4th of July, Americans!)


	14. As Things Once Were

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the help of Doctor Doom, the two versions of Tony become one, again, and things have finally gone back to normal... until the group gets some news.

Tony stood outside of his suit, several feet away from the portal, in line with the center of it, ready and waiting to be whole, again. The portal was fully opened, but the Tony duplicate was taking longer than expected to come through. Growing worried, he turned to Bruce, "should it be taking this lon -  _oof_ ," before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly hit the ground, with the wind knocked out of him. He clutched his arc reactor, feeling it burn, and tried gasping for air, but none came. He closed his eyes and laid still, enduring the moments it took until he got some air back, while he tightened his grip on his arc reactor.

"Tony?!" Bruce shouted, rushing over to his side. It didn't take him long at all to diagnose the issue, and he quickly sat back, giving Tony some space while waiting for it to pass; which was all he could do.

Finally, Tony caught his breath, gasping in a lot of air as he sat up, keeping his hand on his arc reactor.

"Are you okay?" Bruce immediately asked, soothingly patting Tony's back.

"I'm fine," he breathed. "Just... holy  _shit_ , I wasn't expecting that." He looked up into the sky, to see nothing but air. The portal was gone.

"Do you remember?" Strange asked, standing near Tony's feet, looking down at him.

"I spent two months in Asgard, trapped in a cell with Loki," he began, pausing to take in a few breaths. "... And I remember none of it." He smiled, sighing in relief. "Are you sure we're... back to being one?"

Strange nodded once. "You must have missed him when he came through the portal. I swiped his memories before he joined bodies with you. What else would have knocked you out?"

Tony nodded, "huh... Well, thanks. I, uh, I really appreciate it."

Bruce stood to his feet, and extended a hand out to Tony, offering to help him up. Tony gladly accepted, giving Bruce a thankful smile in the process.

"Now, I must warn you... your mind has no recollection of what happened in Asgard, but your body surely will," Strange said.

Tony raised an eyebrow at him, "what does that mean?"

"As Natasha told me, -"

"Why did Natasha tell you anything?" Tony interrupted. Almost whining. "No offense to you, or anything,... I just want this to stay secretive. I don't exactly want SHIELD - or someone worse - finding out and coming after me to see if there's any remnants of Loki's magic on me or something, or if I can remember anything so I can find his weak spot or something."

"I will keep your secret, Stark. I was intrigued about your situation, and wished to know more about it before I offer you my help. She told me only the basics."

Tony crinkled his nose in disapproval, but didn't say anything more on the matter. Not like he could do anything, anyway. "Alright, continue."

"As she told me, you could not get hurt on Asgard. Here, you can. Combining the two situations will make you experience pain, and many other things, differently."

Tony snorted, "trust me... I know how to handle pain."

Strange nodded, and bowed, beginning to retreat, "if you need anything... you know where to find me."

Tony nodded, while Bruce thanked him before he flew off.

"Come on... let's go meet up with the others," Tony suggested, beginning to head off. He was only able to take one step, before he fell to his knees, unable to go any further.

Bruce rushed to Tony's side once more, kneeling down beside him, "Tony, what's wrong?"

"I just..." he put his hand out in front of him, watching as it shook. "I don't know. I feel a bit exhausted... and hungry."

Bruce put Tony's arm around himself, helping him back to his feet, "you shouldn't have been working so hard. In prison, you wouldn't have gotten as much food as you're used to here, or sunlight. Combining the two of your unhealthy habits led to this."

"Thanks, doc," Tony chuckled, keeping his arm around Bruce as they began to make their way to find the others; Bruce grabbing Tony's suit that was folded up like a briefcase, on the way.

Unable to see anyone in sight, Bruce used his communicator to tell the others to meet up at the tower, and they grabbed a cab.

Presumably, they were the last to arrive. As soon as they entered Tony's living room, Natasha was the first to jump up to greet them, pausing only when she saw Bruce helping Tony walk. "What the hell happened to him?"

"Tony and I -  _wow_ , that sounds weird to say..." Tony began, answering for Bruce. "We're one, again, and I feel exhausted because his," Tony nodded towards Thor, "brother probably tried killing me with potions and shit."

The next second, Thor was out of his seat with Tony shoved against the nearest wall, holding Mjolnir up against his throat. "How dare you speak of Loki like that?! He did  _nothing_  of the sort! He was a good friend to you, and... he will miss you."

"The only thing he'll miss is practicing witch craf-"

Thor held Mjolnir closer to Tony's throat, choking him, and cutting him off. "Have care how you speak! You do not have any idea what it is you are speaking of."

"Alright, alright!" Tony mustered out, causing Thor to let go of him; backing away. "Fine, sorry! Geeze."

Natasha walked past Thor, giving him a disapproving look, and helped Tony walk over to the couch. "What do you want to do, now?"

"Now... I want pizza. Four of them. Extra large, extra cheese, extra pepperoni. And, a bottle of..." he trailed off, thinking.

"Scotch," Natasha finished, knowingly.

"Nah, I'm in the mood for some Dr. Pepper, tonight. You got all that, JARVIS?"

Everyone exchanged glances with each other, looking completely dumbstruck at Tony's choice, and the lack of alcohol in his meal.

"... Of course, Sir," JARVIS answered,  _almost_  in a confused tone, "I shall make the call to your favourite pizza place immediately."

Tony looked around the room at everyone's shocked faces, with a look of confusion plastered upon his own face. "What?"

"You don't want any alcohol?" Steve questioned.

"Any, at all?" Bruce questioned.

He shook his head, shrugging, "not really. I don't feel like it, tonight."

"What are you, sobering up?" Clint asked, from the far end of the 'L' shaped couch.

"I..." he trailed off with a frown. He glanced over at Thor, for him to answer the question.

"We..." he began, thinking about how to phrase his sentence. "Helped limit your drinking."

"So, now the sober me is mixed in with the real me, and it's making me, as a whole, sober... I would thank you, but I need alcohol."

"Tony, no," Steve protested. "This is a good thing; you can continue this and become sober, and healthy. You  _don't_  'need' your poison."

"That's easy for you to say, you  _can't_  drink," he pointed out.

"I  _can_  drink, I just can't get drunk," Steve corrected.

"And if you could? Would you drink, and get drunk, to help you numb and forget the pain? You're in a completely different time, your best friend is good as dead, your girlfriend is an old lady, and you have  _nothing_ else. Tell me you wouldn't drink," he growled.

Steve stared at him, completely shocked and speechless, as everyone else did.

"He didn't mean that, Cap," Bruce finally murmured. "He's irritable because of his condition, and he's lashing out."

Tony let out a sharp sigh, and crossed his arms. He didn't want choices being made for him. He wasn't ready to give up alcohol. He had a dependency on it... he had nothing to help him, instead of it.

"So, new topic," Natasha said, breaking the awkward silence. "What happens to the machine, now, Stark?"

Everyone looked towards Tony, awaiting his answer.

Tony let out a softer sigh, calming down and thinking about it. "We can hand it in to SHIELD. I guess," he shrugged. "I don't want anything to do with it, anymore; I did what I needed to do with it."

Natasha nodded, sliding her phone out of her pocket, and wondered out of the room as she held it up to her ear, presumably to call Fury with the news.

"Is she coming back?" Tony asked out loud, to no one in particular.

"Probably not," Clint answered.

"I should take my leave, as well," Thor announced. "It would be wise of me to check up on Loki to make sure he is well."

Tony bit his tongue to keep from saying something that would anger Thor, and only nodded in response. "You're gonna miss my 'welcome home' party, too?"

"You have always been home."

"Well, then, let's call it my 'congratulations on getting two versions of yourself put back together and reaching a whole new level of genius' party."

Thor gave a weak, sad smile, and began heading for the exit. "Congratulations, friend Stark. I am... most happy of your success."

Tony stared at him as he left, and frowned. "If he's so happy, why doesn't it seem it?"

"Well, you  _did_  just insult his brother, in what I think is one of the worst ways," Clint answered. "Despite what you think of him... Thor did say you two got along pretty well."

"Well, I doubt it," Tony replied, shrugging, and turning his head to look at the other side of the room, away from everyone. He refused to believe he could ever get along with Loki. It wasn't right. Tony was, well, he was known as a hero. Loki was some crazy asshole who tried to destroy and rule the planet. How could they  _possibly_ get along? They had nothing in common.  _Nothing_.

Bruce - who looked uncomfortable, probably due to the drama - cleared his throat, and side-stepped towards the door, "I'm gonna go grab a few things... just to run some tests, to make you're going to be good and healthy, and there isn't anything more than exhaustion and hunger."

Tony nodded, letting him leave without another word. At least  _he_  had a reasonable excuse.

"I'm gonna go get a drink," Tony muttered, starting to get up. He stumbled, and fell right back own on the couch.

Steve slid over to sit beside Tony, and comfortingly set his hand on Tony's shoulder. "I'm no doctor... but if you're going to drink, it should at least be  _after_  you get some food in yourself."

"Whatever. I can't walk, anyways," he grumbled. He knew he was being an asshole - oh, he was  _so_  aware of it, but, Bruce was right: Tony was starving, and exhausted - and very irritable because of that. He couldn't help it. He let out a soft sigh, and waited for the pizza in silence, as everyone else did.

"Sir, the pizza is here," JARVIS finally informed.

Tony nodded in response, and slid his wallet out of his jeans, handing it to Steve, "tip generously, I love these guys - but not too generously, they aren't a charity."

Steve nodded, taking the wallet, and headed downstairs.

A few minutes later, he returned, balancing the four pizzas in one hand, and holding the bottle of Dr. Pepper in the other.

"Show off," Tony muttered.

Steve rolled his eyes, setting everything down on the coffee table in front of the couch. Immediately, Tony leaned forwards, grabbing an entire box. He opened it, and immediately began eating. He couldn't help but moan at how wonderful it tasted. He felt as though he hadn't had pizza in months... though, part of him hadn't.

Steve and Clint exchanged a glance, then opened another box, grabbing a slice for themselves.

By the time Bruce came back, carrying a rather large briefcase in his hand, Tony was on his fifth piece of pizza. Steve and Clint were both right behind him in the slice count with three and a half pieces eaten each, and the bottle of Dr. Pepper was empty.

As soon as Bruce came into sight, Tony snorted at the size of Bruce's briefcase. "Do you have an entire Doctor's office in there, Doc?"

Bruce shrugged, and slid the pizza boxes out of the way to make room for his briefcase. Before he opened it, he headed into the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water. He grabbed Tony's hand, setting the glass in his grasp, and took the half eaten slice of pizza from him.

"That was rude, you know I don't like being handed things."

"I know," Bruce smiled, sitting in front of Tony on the table, "that's why I set it in your hand."

Tony rolled his eyes, "same thing."

"Gargle it," Bruce commanded.

Tony took a few mouthfuls, swallowing the water, before he did as instructed, and gargled it in his mouth, spitting it back in the glass.

Then - Bruce stuck a popsicle stick in Tony's mouth. "Say 'ah.'"

"I don't approve of your stick in my mouth," Tony mustered out. Clint snorted, Steve's eyes rolled, and Bruce sighed - Tony smiled, and then, and only then, did he obey, saying 'ah,' letting Bruce observe his throat.

Next, Bruce pulled out his stethoscope. Sliding it under Tony's shirt, he placed it over Tony's heart, and listened. "Cough."

"You're more commanding than Pepper. Fill these papers out, sign this, go here, put some clothes on..." he trailed off, finishing with a cough.

"So far, so good," Bruce murmured, ignoring Tony. He was at least happy that Tony was back to being himself. Grabbing his ophthalmoscope, he shone the light in Tony's eyes. "Look left..." he requested, "and right," he continued, when Tony followed the request.

Without even looking, Bruce then reached behind himself to grab a plastic hammer. He tapped it on Tony's knee, and Tony's leg kicked. "Ow," he absentmindedly muttered. Bruce did the same to the other leg, then set the hammer down.

"Now," he began, holding his hand up in front of him, "punch my hand."

"What-?"

"Do it."

"I'm not punching you."

"It's just my hand, it's fine."

"But -"

" _Tony_."

" _Fine_!" he growled, balling his hand into a fist, throwing it towards Bruce's hand. Bruce didn't respond, at all.

"I'm going to need some blood, now."

"That's it? No 'ow,' no flinching away, or anything?"

"Blood."

"Can't you just wait until we get into another fight some crazy asshole trying to take over?"

"No. Give me your arm."

Tony whined in protest, but held his arm out, allowing Bruce to put a tourniquet on his arm... and then the needle... and take three vials of blood.

"How do you feel?"

"Light headed."

"Alright, come on, you need to get some rest."

"Why? You said 'so far, so good.' Don't tell me it all went downhill from there."

"You're more exhausted than I had thought. Your punch is incredibly weak, you said ow when I tapped your knee -"

"No, I didn't."

"You did," Clint input.

"Did I?" Tony asked Steve, who nodded in response. He sighed, and turned back to Bruce, "what else?"

"Your heart is beating faster than it should. You're using far too much energy than you should be. Tony, if you don't rest, you're going to get a lot worse."

Tony huffed his breath, crossing his arms. "Fine. Help me up."

Bruce turned to Steve, "can you carry him?"

"I don't need to be manhandled!" Tony whined.

Steve nodded, ignoring Tony, and picked him up, carrying him to his bedroom.

"I'll give you the results on your blood as soon as I know," Bruce called out after Tony.

"I can walk," Tony grumbled.

"Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should, Tony."

"God, what are you, Jesus?"

"Jesus die-"

" _Don't_."

Steve sighed, setting Tony down on the bed. "You've done some good work. Get some rest," Steve smiled, then left Tony alone.

Tony let out a long, heavy sigh, and flopped himself down, curling up underneath the blankets, closing his eyes. He was too tired to protest sleep, anyways.

The next morning, when he woke up, he immediately had a long, hot shower, and shamelessly sang along to AC/DC songs that played through the ceiling speakers the entire time.

When he got out, he wrapped a towel around his waist, and drew a smiley face on the foggy mirror. He felt a lot better than he had the previous day. Granted, he still felt weak and couldn't walk too fast, but he was better nonetheless.

"JARVIS, where's Pepper?"

"She has gone on a few errands, Sir, she should be back in a few hours."

Tony nodded, then left to grab a cup of coffee. He was still avoiding her - he didn't know how to confront her about a breakup just yet. He needed time to sort of his words, and a good time to do it...

After he grabbed his coffee, he grabbed a slice of left over pizza from the fridge, and began eating it as breakfast. He laid down on the couch to rest from all of his walking which was beginning to make him feel tired, and he closed his eyes, enjoying his peace.  
 _This_  was how things should be... being able to eat unhealthy breakfasts, sing in the shower, relax... he hadn't done that in too long. He'd been working so much for so long, he'd forgotten how great it was to do nothing, and not be filled with stress.

Things were finally back to normal.

... Until the sound of thunder jolted throughout the sky. Tony jumped, and sat up, staring out the window. Thor headed down near the entrance of the building. Hopefully, he was just in a noisy mood, and didn't come bearing news that some jackass evil villain was here to ruin his day.

Closing his eyes again, he started to drift off as his silence continued... until JARVIS interrupted him. "Sir, I apologize for disturbing you, but your presence is requested in the Avengers meeting room."

"Why?" he groaned.

"It is about... Loki."

That was enough to make Tony sit up, staring into the darkness. "Get them on the screen, now."

"Yes, Sir." Immediately, the living room TV was turned on, and connected to the Avengers meeting room.

As soon as Tony could see the others gathered around the table, he spoke, "what's going on?"

Everyone glanced up at the screen to look at Tony, then they glanced around at each other, as if to decide who shares the news.

"When I asked for you to be here, I meant actually be  _here_ ," Natasha responded.

"You know my rule, I don't get out of bed or leave my lab unless it's a level seven. What is going on?"

"You're not in bed," Natasha retorted.

"No, but I  _was_  sleeping. This is my temporary... 'bed'. Now,  _what is going on_?"

Everyone remained silent. Finally, Thor spoke up, "Loki has escaped the dungeon. He is... loose, somewhere in the nine realms."

Tony swallowed, hard, and terror ran through him. That was off the charts. That was a level twelve. "He's coming for me..." he whispered, too quietly for the microphone to catch.

He jumped out of bed, grabbing his robe on the way, and used the walls for balance as he ran down the hallway to the elevator. He punched the button to take him down to his lab, so he could hide. Even though he didn't remember Loki, he was damn certain that he's had enough. He didn't want to see Loki. He didn't want anything to do with Loki.

As soon as the elevator door opened back up, he ran into his lab, and sat in his chair. He needed a minute to catch his breath - after all, his exhaustion hadn't gone away after just one night.

"Anthony...?"

Tony jumped, letting out a high pitched squeal, and turned in his chair to face the man who owned  _that_  voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry, for how long it's taken to post this, and how uneventful it is.  
> Between writer's block, being more busy than I've been all year, and being sick as a dog, it took me a while to be able to finish this, and do it half decently.  
> The next chapter, I promise, will be very eventful and not boring ~ I'm just building up to that right here.
> 
> ... However, Lei-Sam has gone away for a while (I send her each chapter before posting it, to get her opinions/suggestions/approval on it), so I won't be posting the next chapter until she reads it.  
> (Sorry, again ;_;)

**Author's Note:**

> ' “Stark, what the hellebróga?!” Loki yelled. '  
> Here, Loki uses the Old English language. 'Hellebróga' translates as 'terror of hell.'


End file.
